Blood, Family, and Forbidden love
by risky0713
Summary: On June 25th, two lives were sealed in a marriage contract. Seventeen years later, the dark lord's heir is hunting for his bride. Dark Draco, Warrior Hermione. Rated for Sex, Rape, Abuse, Drugs, Murder... NOT WHAT YOU EXPECT
1. Prologue 1:In the end, We're all alone

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling

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**Prologue: In the End, We're all alone.**

_What happens to a stamp when travel is done?__  
><em>_May it be of interest to someone?__  
><em>_Wonder where the stamp has been?__  
><em>_Can its message be read?__  
><em>_It has subjects without number.__  
><em>_They cause the mind to wonder.__  
><em>_Trace its message of when and where.__  
><em>_Enjoy the travels it has to share._

_ -Esther Thornburg_

~o~

"Hermione Jane Granger, you get your ass down here, right now!" screamed Ms. Keel, Hermione's aunt. It had always been like this, they would scream, argue, and then her aunt would burst into tears causing Hermione to feel guilty. And then at the sounds of his mother's wailing, Hermione's cousin, Nathan, seventeen years old, would come running downstairs and scream at her. Sometimes, Nathan's anger would suppress his limits and he would strike Hermione. It was an ugly cycle that repeated itself over and over.

However, Hermione wasn't some stupid girl that took her beatings silently. She would scream back and thrash violently. Hermione Granger, the brightest witch to be seen in many centuries, was a Gryffindor through and through, and she proved it every day. Her spirit never broke even after the constant bullying attempts made by her own cousin.

It had all started during her Fourth year, Christmas break, when her parents were brutally murdered by Death Eaters. Unfortunately, she hadn't known until the end of the year, but she had felt it. Hermione and her parents had had always a strong relationship, so when she stopped receiving replies, in the middle of her fourth year, she had known something was wrong. Yet, she had pushed it back and instead focused on her studies and the Triwizard Tournament, and now she regretted it.

Cedric's death had affected everyone, whether indirectly or directly. She remembered the screams and the echoes of sobs, in the air. She remembered seeing Harry's terrified and heartbroken expression. It had hurt, but it had been nothing compared to arriving at the train station, and realizing her parents weren't coming. Somehow, reality had managed to slip through all her walls and knock on her door.

She clearly remembered that day. Hermione had arrived at the train station with Harry and Ron and all other students in a melancholy mood after Cedric's death. Harry had been very emotional, even the slightest laugh had made him angry and so both Ron and Hermione had deemed to remain silent. Ron, himself had seemed depressed and both boys stuck together on the trains station, long forgotten his argument with Harry. She remembered every so often Ron would grimace, in realization that the war was really close.

There had been no wind, no sun, and no loud chatter and if there had been, it all had seemed so distant. Everything had been so dull, the grey painted walls and the old brown rails had been more prominent than ever. It had been so _dry_. As if after gasping for breath from the deep plunge into reality, there was no comfort left. Even the bright orange haired Weasleys had seemed somber and to Hermione's eyes, their hair had become dull too in a matter of mere moments, now a rusty ginger color.

Mrs. Weasley had arrived, lacking her loud yells, quietly collected her children, but had dearly kissed Harry and Hermione on the forehead and had left the train station in a somber mood. Next came, Sirius Black, Harry's God father, who had hugged dear Harry affectingly, threatened the Dursleys and with a small wave to Hermione, he had escorted Harry home. Hermione all that time could not help but think how both Sirius and had avoided her gaze and had instead focused on the dull grey ground. Nonetheless, she had kissed Harry and Ron on the cheek and had told them her Goodbyes.

Then she had been left alone, on a bench by the side and outside the Hogwarts Express station. The train had been long dismissed after every single and to the last student had gotten of. Moments had passed by, turning in to minutes and eventually hours. The gloomy atmosphere turned from dry to chilly as her worries had increased. Her parents had never been late, they highly believed that attendance before the moment was important.

They're had been only two other students left, one girl and one boy, most probably siblings by the way they had sat. After another hour, she had simply sat there and watched as a muggle car arrived and screeched to a halt. The front door had opened, and a woman had come bustling out hugging both children and too soon she had been the only one left. But Hermione hadn't cared and she had waited, even after everyone had left the train station, keeping firm faith that her parents would come to pick her up. She had waited and waited and waited.

Then the wind outside the train station had become chillier and she had hugged her suit case to her chest, shivering from her worries and of course, the cold. The sun had disappeared only a half an hour ago and the last train of the day had been boarding its passengers when Hermione, to her immense disappointment, began to realize what had happened.

The courageous Gryffindor princess had sat there in shock for possibly minutes or even a half an hour, frozen like a statue before, even to her surprise, a lone tear had slid down her face. The tear had felt warm and unfamiliar as it trailed down her numb cheeks from the cold and landed right on top of her upper lip. Both the saltiness of her tear or her freezing body brought her no comfort and she began to shake.

Her silent tears began to turn into tiny sniffles and then great sobs and finally loud hysterical laughter as Hermione had fallen to her knees, abandoning her suit case. She hadn't known what to do as she laughed and pounded the hard cement ground in frustration and loss. Her throat began to parch and her fists throbbed in pain but she didn't want to stop or she did not know how because she remembered continuing on.

Slowly but when she did not know, she had pulled her self against a wall in the corner, and had pulled her knees up against her chest and sobbed her heart breaking tears out. She did not know if she had even gasped for breath during her break down began after a few moments, she had stopped sobbing but instead had gasped for deep breaths. Her chest had wheezed and her head had pounded against her skull. For the first time in her life, Hermione had been at loss; She had no where to go and only a little change in her pocket, how was she to manage? – And her pa-p-p-parents?

Confused and Panicking, Hermione had begun to scream.

"Hello!"

"Anyone?!"

"Please, God, I need Help!"

"HELP ME!"

She had not known what to do but keep screaming. She began yelling, she was panicking and stressing. She was all alone in a dark train station. She did not truly know what had happened to her parents.

"Please, Anyone!"

The station guards wouldn't understand and the muggle police would be no help, so Hermione had slowly walked back through platform 9 ¾ where Hogwarts express had just dropped her off hours ago, and then continued on to call for help. The place was magical; surely someone would come to her help.

"Anyone, Please I'm a Witch!"

And then finally, as a last attempt she did not why, but she had screamed her headmaster's name. "Headmaster DUMBLEDORE? Please!"

When she waited a few moments, but no one had come or no message arrived, she had given up. Once again falling to her knees, Hermione had begun to cry. Her luggage somewhere outside in the Muggle train station, and her only change, left in the zip of her small bag, she had not known what to do. She had been so confused, panicked, and so worried for her parent's well being, that her mind had failed to operate but let her cry her worries out. She did know why she had cried because Hermione never really cried, but all she remembered was that she had been so confused and she had continued to sob.

She did not know what time it had been or how long she had cried, but some time later when tears had continued to trail down but her mouth had ceased to let out a sound, and she had finally entered a trance. However Hermione remembered, hearing a small 'POP' in the distant and a few foot steps closing upon her. She remembered someone in deep purple robes caressing his beard and his sharp blue eyes observing her. She remembered hearing a sigh too, somewhere in the distance. And then finally what she did remember was a soft hand touching her shoulder and pulling her out of her deep trance.

"There, There" The man had spoken and Hermione could not help as she had hugged the old man's legs and continued to let tears steams down. He had patted her head affectingly before slowly crouching down to her face level.

"Ms. Granger," He had spoken slowly "I am deeply sorry to say that – tha"

He had cleared his throat before continuing "– Ms. Granger,"

And then he had broken of his speech again.

He then had started once again. "At the evening of December 30th, 1993, Mr. and Mrs. Granger were reported dead…"

She remembered ignoring him, and continuing on mourning for her unaware loss. But then she had slowly but surely finally come to a stop, and looked up at him, gathering and processing that her Headmaster stood before him. And then she had realized something. She remembered thinking that surely the great Dumbledore had known when her lovely parents had passed away, then why hadn't he told her earlier?

"But," As she moved her lips, no sound came out. Her throat had been parched and her voice had been stuck from its lack of use. However, she had cleared her throat, gathering some of her voice she had spoke again.

"December 30th?" She had hesitantly questioned. When no answer came from his mouth, she had continued.

"December 30th? But sir, that had been the day I had been helping you arrange the security guidelines for the Tri-wizard tournaments? Right sir?" And the old man had continued to be silent and his eyes darted side ways, looking every where except for her.

Moments had passed, and Hermione knew the brutal truth. But she could not help but wonder why.

"But why, sir?" Her voice had been low and had dearly yearned for water, but she had had to ask him.

As if reading her thoughts, he had replied, whispering with his head down, "My dear, sometimes sacrifices must be made for the greater good"

_For the greater good… _where had she heard that before' – she had wondered. Time seemed to stop and Hermione's mind went diving down to her feet. She remember smiling a sad smile and looking at her Headmaster with pity and even disgust. Her soft broken heart – still mourning for her parents, told her it wasn't her place, but Hermione's mind had relented. And right there and then Hermione had lost somewhat respect for Dumbledore. He was a manipulator and a human whom had tried to do well, but had failed and fallen into his selfish desires. And here he expected _kids _to accomplish what he couldn't do?!

Yet, this was life, as Hermione had learnt very quickly, and nothing was fair. After Dumbledore's _announcement,_ he had been quick to tell her that she would be living with her Aunt Keel and her cousin Nathan, from then on. But Hermione hadn't really cared back then and Dumbledore, feeling tense and awkward, knowing he no longer held the same respect from Hermione, had been in a hurry to get back.

Everything had seemed normal for a month, with her aunt always going out for work, never having time to spend with her, and with Nathan having to take summer school. However, as each day passed, Hermione began to notice how tense her aunt was and how Nathan would shoot dirty looks, whenever she was near. It had been a week before Hogwarts began, when she had finally discovered why her Aunt disliked – no _hated_ her.

After coming back from work, her Aunt had felt troubled and furious. Thinking she could help, Hermione had made her way to her Aunt and slung her arm around the older woman's shoulders, trying to comfort the middle aged woman. Immediately, the woman's shoulders had become tenser and frigid.

_Flashback_

_._

_._

"Don't touch me –"

"Uh- excuse me?"

"I said, don't come any closer!" Her aunt's furious tone was whispered out harshly

"I'm sorry - I don't understand- should I get you some tea? Do you want me to call Nathan?-"

"SHUT UP! JUST SHUTUP! I DON'T WANT TO HEAR YOUR ANNOYING VOICE ANYMORE!"

"I don't know what you're talking about-" Hermione had managed to stammer out before she was interrupted by her impatient aunt.

"THAT'S RIGHT! YOU NEVER KNOW! YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING! POOR LITTLE HERMIONE ALL LOST AND ALONE! HA!"

"That's enough! I didn't ask for this either!-" Hermione was getting agitated. She had come here to comfort her aunt not to be insulted! The nerve of some people!

"SHUT UP! DON'T YOU DARE TALK TO ME LIKE THAT! DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE, AFTER ALL WE DID FOR YOU! MY BROTHER WAS A KIND PERSON WITH A KIND SOFT HEART! HE DIDN'T DESERVE THIS!" she stopped for a mere second, heaving a huge breath in before continuing. "I KNEW HE WAS GOING TO FALL ONE DAY WITH THE HEART OF HIS, I HAD WARNED HIM! BUT NO! HE HAD TO GO OUT AND ADOPT A STUPID PATHETIC LITTLE GIRL!"

No. No. No. This was not happening. No- , she heaved in a huge breath. Hermione was smart, and brilliant enough to know this wasn't going to end well. She wasn't ready, no not yet. Her parents had just passed away! Her strong heart already had a hole in it, and she didn't want it to break. She wanted to scream, yell, kick, do anything to make her aunt stop but she continued.

"THEY LOVED THAT STUPID GIRL, OH THEY LOVED HER SO MUCH!" Aunt keel once again stopped but this time to make sense of her thoughts. Little pricks of droplets seemed to be escaping the corners of her eyes. Her beautiful aunt had somehow aged ten years in the last ten minutes. Her aunt Keel sighed, and sagged her shoulders down slightly.

"Everytime they looked at her, their eyes would fill with warmth and compassion. And I would wonder, how could someone love someone so much? It pained me to see how every little move of that pathetic girl would cause my brother to smile. They obliged every wish the girl said, never questioning her motives. Never did they complain even when they were separated and left out of the girl's happiness. NEVER did they complain even when THEIR FUCKING LIVES WERE IN DANGER. And I asked! I bloody asked my brother why he still strived so hard every bleeding day to fulfill the girl's wishes, when she in return never repaid anything!" She paused to let out a bitter laugh " And he said because I love that girl, more than life, more than the whisp of oxygen I take each day, and I would die over and over before I ever let that _beautiful girl _of mine down- even if she is adopted"

"-AND CAN YOU GUESS WHO THAT LITTLLE GIRL WAS, HERMIONE? -NO? WELL IT WAS YOU! YES, THAT'S RIGHT! YOU, HERMIONE JANE GRANGER ARE ADOPTED!"

"No! No! No! NOO!" Hermione shook her head crazily and stopped only to look in her aunt's eyes and say "YOU'RE LYING! YOU HAVE TO BE! YOU'RE JEALOUS THAT YOUR BROTHER FOUND LOVE AND HAD A PERFECT FAMILY! YOU'RE A CRAZY OLD BITCH! – yeah that's right, I'm sure it is" She yelled out loud, trying to convince herself more than her own aunt. But as much as Hermione tried to deny it, she knew her aunt was telling the truth, and it killed her to admit it.

Hermione's world slowly tumbled apart, piece by piece, and she slumped to her knees. It hurt. It pained her to know that she had no one now. She had no real blood family left in this world. With a loud heartbreaking cry, she began to sob against the wall. She sobbed because she was a failure. She sobbed because she was to blame for her parents' death. And she sobbed because, she truly realized that she had no where really to go, she was lost in her own sick world.

Hermione wanted to die for she had never been so ashamed of herself. But for once in her life, she wished she wasn't who she was. Hermione Jane Granger was adopted.

~o~

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_End Flashback_


	2. Prologue 2:The pureblood you have become

**Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns everything and is the creator of all Harry Potter characters. **

**Hey guys! I know many of you are confused about where this story is going, but believe me I do have a storyline! – So please bear with me**

**^^But just to clear things up- These few chapters will be background history fillers but they will play a part in the story (somehow :p)**

**Thank you for all those who reviewed!**

Chapter 03: The pureblood you have become

The 'light' liked to think that Draco Malfoy was a mere innocent child, who was brought up by his father's morals, and then forced to join the Death Eaters. The light liked to think that their morals were very different from the 'dark' side. The light liked to think their ways of battling were 'less cruel' than the Death Eater's ways. The light liked to think they were the nice people, the good ones, the 'light' side. – Oh but how wrong they were.

Draco Malfoy had never been innocent and his interest in the Dark arts suppressed even the Dark Lord, who himself knew the limits. He had murdered, raped, tortured, and had done cannibalism.

At the age of five, he had murdered his new born pet dog, kien. That had been his first time. The little puppy had not drunk his milk when Draco had demanded, and in result he had snapped the puppy's neck. Then he had fed the puppy to its mother dog.

His father had continued teaching him on all acts of torture. Sometimes his father would bring home experimental creatures like elves, Centaurs, hippogriffs, snakes, and many more. He would torture them like hell, and then if he was generous he would kill them eventfully. But most of the time, he left them to rot to death.

On his fourteenth birthday, his father had promised that he would kill his first pair of human bodies that year. So Draco had continued to practice and practice his skills, until the day before Christmas, a letter was sent to him in Hogwarts.

It had been simple, and if anyone were to read they would not have held any suspicions. So on the day of Christmas, he had boarded the first express that would get him home. It was all well planned. Everyone would be busy with the triwizard tournament, and not concerned with the happenings of the outside world.

The train ride had been an hour long, and he had sat alone in his own private compartment. He had not want to be bothered by his pitiful friends Zabini, Nott, Goyle, Crabbe, and the stupid girls- who were also going home this break. He was dressed in a black velvet cloak embroidered with grey designs at the corner. The cloak was pinned together at the top with a single beautiful cut Emerald that glinted at everyone.

In the distant he could hear the other kids chatter and laugh about stupid useless things. At one point he even heard a crash signaling that the trolley had tilted over. But Draco Malfoy had not cared and had just sat there, revising all his new learnt spells. He had always been mature for his age. While other would laugh at stupid pranks, he would laugh at their pain. While they blubbered with unknown facts, he only spoke with cool demanding tones. He was one of those who smiled but held knives in their pockets.

The train stopped, and one of his manor elves appeared inside to grab his luggage. He left before the elf could even muster out a word. He walked down the hallway of the train, calm and collected. Once outside he found his grand carriage, colored black with big carvings and gemstones. The carriage was being pulled by huge black thestrals. He had chosen the thestrals with shallow red eyes for his carriage personally. Every few moments, the name Malfoy would appear magically in thin air. The carriage rolled out in front of him, and an elf held the door open. The stairs along with the expensive red carpet rolled out and he went inside.

The carriage ride took only a few minutes, travelling by the speed of magic. As the carriage rolled in front of the large doors of the manor, Narcissa came striding out with a cool collected face. Draco nodded and she nodded back. Lucius Malfoy came striding behind and shook hands with his son and with a pop they disappeared.

It was normal day. There was no rain, no overbearing sunshine but just a normal cool cloudy day.

Lucius, tall and proud walked up the long path with his son following after him. They stopped in front of a huge white gate with a grand 'G' written on it. The house was also a huge two story white wall building. The scene was so peaceful that it was sickening.

Lucius turned around to face his son. "There are two married muggles living inside this house. Both male and female are average and may resort to muggle weapons." With his quick and blunt words he blasted the gate open and sirens began ringing.

Adrenaline pumped through Draco's blood and his hands danced to the rhythm. He ran and jumped through the window.

"Stop! I have a gun and I'm not afraid to use it!"

Hearing the muggle's voice, Draco ran upstairs to the second floor. In the last room, under the dim sunlight and huge unlit chandeliers, a man held an instrument. There was another muggle behind the man, and Draco wondered how to murder them.

Wordlessly, Draco sent an 'Imperio' and the man was under his control. His shoulders slumped and he dropped his gun.

"Harris? Harris, what are you doing?" The female's shrill voice made the _'imperioed' _man widen his eyes -just for a second-in recognition but he was quick to be back in Draco's control. The man walked towards his wife, and held her in his arms. The woman sighed in relief only yet to scream out in pain a second later. Her arms were twisted back and they broke with a low crunch.

"Harris!" She screamed out even in pain.

But Harris continued punching and kicking his wife, and in return the wife refused to hit him back. He then grabbed a piece full of her hair and thrashed her face into a thick lit candle. She screamed and screamed until her tongue began to burn.

Oh what a sight it was with Draco's distant laughter chilling the halls. How was the couple to know as that today was the day they would die? They were just the innocent who had loved and had been loved. Was this the punishment of the good? Was this the cruel welcome of heaven? Who's to say they would go to heaven when for all they know their morals could've been wrong? Who's to know if there's even a God? Whose to know what they have believed were all lies or not? Who's to know if one day your lover would be your murder?

Memories, questions, hopes and dreams all blurred in the woman's pain as she lifted her head with melted lips and ripped cheek skin. Her chest wheezed with gasping sobs. Slowly she turned her head towards her lover.

"Please… please… I beg you! I beg you with my life- Please stop!" She cried out in a desperate tone.

The man did not reply but turned around and walked towards the washroom where scissors and a knife lay. He returned and carried his wife to the bed as well. Gently he slipped her clothes off as she struggled and thrashed around. The man kissed her roughly holding both her hands above. The scissors and the knife lay aside.

Draco conjured up ropes and commanded the man to tie the female to the bed. Then the man used his scissors and cut her nipples. Blood spurted out but Draco did not let the man waste his time. Draco wanted the woman to endure the pain whilst she was alive.

The man then stabbed his knife into her hip, and the wife gasped – too exhausted to scream. With the scissors he cut the access skin that was flapping and then he stabbed the knife back in again. This he pulled the knife back in a diagonal position, so that the blade scooped up the insides as it came out. There were long stringy veins looped over the blade and Draco using his wand cut them and placed them in a conjured glass jar.

The wife was long dead now with her eyes open and body slumped across the ropes. Draco let go of the curse he had placed on the man. He laughed as he did so because he knew all along the man's consciousness had been alive and he had seen everything.

"!" The muggle screamed in agony as soon he was let out of the curse. He screamed over and over until he started heaving with sobs.

"WHY? WHY'D YOU HAVE TO KILL HER? IT COULD'VE BEEN ME INSTEAD! WHY? – DAMMIT!" The man stopped only to heave out his stomach's contents. Wiping his mouth, the muggle continued with his words.

"ANSWER ME! YOU BASTARD! YOU MOTHERFUCKING ASSHOLE! ANSWER ME!"

Draco had always been impatient and his anger grew at the filthy muggle's words. It wasn't his fault the muggle has been too weak to not protect what was his.

"Shut up. You're really annoying." Draco muttered out and he cast 'expeillarmus'. The man went flying and hit the wall with a great THUD. Crack lines appeared on the wall but Draco paid no attention and cast another unforgivable at the man.

"Crucio!" The man screamed and thrashed around the room, hitting the wall over and over again. Soon the man began spitting and coughing out blood. His arm was already broken due to the impact he made with the wall, before.

Draco knew that this man was going to die very soon and he had yet to cast the last unforgivable. He walked over to the man and kicked his chest. He needed to hurry. In the distance, he could hear the ceiling cracking too with the lack of support from the walls.

Pieces of solid marble dropped down from the ceiling as Draco waved his wand in large circle movements. A gold aura surrounded his wand but as soon as it came to contact with the spell, it crackled and became a light lime green. With one long swirl of his wand, he whispered "Avada Kedavra"

The spell darted out to the wheezing man. It was all too sudden. One moment the man was wheezing and then his eyes widened and his body slumped. As the man's head came in contact with the floor, the ceiling started stumbling down. Draco cursed and ran downstairs where he knew his father was waiting.

The chandeliers fell with large 'BOOM' s and the diamond tinkled slightly before they broke. The cherry wood staircase began falling apart as well. Another side of the house had burnt down already. The place was havoc.

Suddenly, the fireplace beside him exploded and the pictures that hung above him came tumbling forward. He darted to the right and dodged the explosions but was too late as a single portrait hit him on his shoulder and then fell to the floor.

"Fuck" He looked down to see the unmoving portrait of a little girl with wild brown hair and hazel eyes. Still angered at his injury, he kicked the portrait hard. The frame went flying and toppled over the rest of the pictures.

Scowling, Draco ran over the framed portraits and sprinted downstairs. There his father waited and he called his name. They both ran outside with their dark robes blowing behind them. It was a beautiful sight as the sun set and the house burned behind them.

They stopped before the gate and the father handed his son an old ancient pot.

He smashed the ancient expensive pot smashed to the ground and the glass broke into tiny pieces. The tiny shards turned into purple mist as the ground became a hole.

As the mist became thick and his father got ready to jump Draco caught sight of the thick gold lettering on the gate.

It read:

**THE GRANGERS  
>36 RANSOM AVE<strong>

And even though in the distant he could feel his father's grip on his collar tugging him, and even though in the back of his mind he knew he was only wasting his precious time, and even as he might he slumped to the ground and punched the ground.

And then he began to laugh. He laughed and laughed and laughed. And the echoes became too great and his father grew too tired yet Draco smiled because he had done it.

He had over crossed his sanity.

**I hope you liked it! Please review and remember kind criticism is always welcomed!**

**Risky0713**


	3. Hey little girl, you're growing up

Chapter 04: Little girl, you're growing up

1995 (Christmas Break) – Fifth year

One hit would have been easy to handle, but hits over hits was hard to block, especially when she had no weapons except her swinging legs. Her arms ached and her right ankle was twisted. There was welts, bruises, cuts, and other injuries that she not seen yet. It hurt like hell, but in a way she welcomed the pain because she knew what didn't kill her would make her stronger. And she needed to be strong, especially now that she had no one left…

She gasped as she felt her hair being gripped back, hard, causing her head and roots to pull up. Immediately her hands went up to grasp his hands, an attempt to decrease the pain from the hard tug. Her head tilted back and she looked up at his face filled with hatred and concentration, and in return he raised his leg to kick her shoulder once again.

Nathan Keel was ugly as he was beautiful. He was six feet two inches tall with sandy hazel eyes and dirty blonde hair. He had the perfect life of a teenager boy with a huge group of friends, numerous girlfriends, and a good amount of allowance transferring to his account every week. He walked with a powerful stride and every movement; every _hit _was performed with elegance.

Yet he was as ugly as he was beautiful. Behind his looks, his personality was hallow and cruel. He had an old and dull wall built up around his heart and he lived with an empty gaze. His friends were just pawns and all those girls were mere instruments he _fucked_. Money, what money? That allowance wasn't his; it was his stupid-so-called-father's way of apologizing. And so Nathan Keel was ugly because his father had left him and he became an ignorant jerk.

But Hermione laughed at this. She mocked his pathetic sob story. She felt no sympathy or remorse for Nathan because both of his parents were alive and they still loved him - even if they were divorced. He was seventeen, for God's sake! Its time he moved on before everyone left him. And neither did Hermione hide this fact. And that is why Nathan hated her.

And so every time his poor mother sobbed, he would come running looking for an excuse to release his anger on her. He would kick her, punch her, and stab her – anything to cause her pain. Yet she would come back standing with new hope regained in her spirit. It was so fucking hideous.

He fucking hated her.

- He roared in anger and grabbed her throat only to slam her face on the floor, repeatedly. Blood oozed out like thick lava and soon became dark scarlet. The beautiful tiles were now slobbered with her bloods as if it was just mere water. She struggled and elbowed him on his chin causing him to release her. She quickly staggered back, so she that she was out of reach and threw a pot at him.

He yelled in pain as the pot hit his shoulder. The pot bounced of his shoulder and landed on the tiles causing a small crack. He bent down to catch his breath and then looked at her with new found vengeance.

_Only a few more minutes… It's alright, keep your head up… - _It was a mantra she kept repeating in her head. The constant fists pummeling into her body and her small groans of pain made an unusual pattern, she thought. Eventually he had to give up, didn't he?

She tried to find something to distract him but he was in a trance, rage flowing out. She reminded herself not to look in his eyes, remembering her last experience, but her curiosity won. It was a stupid idea and it would haunt her for days, afterwards.

Slowly she glanced up…and looked

-They were so scary. Those eyes… those beautiful blue eyes, just like her father, were now so _ugly. _She wanted to cry and look away from those familiar eyes. The warm liquid blue was now a dark cobalt ink shade of blade. Blood leaked out from the wound on his brow and seeped inside his eye making them seem haunted. It made her blood-curl and deep inside her, the image of her father's eyes changed a little. She didn't want to see it any longer.

She tried to enter another world. A peaceful happy world created by her mind. She thought about how it would have been like, if her parents had been alive. How she might have not had that many scars or nightmares.- Perhaps her body wouldn't have been so numb and she would have lacked the strength she had learned from her experiences. But she liked to think she would have been happy.

"DIE! DIE ALREADY!-" His voice brought her back from her trance. She managed to put up her elbow just in time for the glass vase to shatter and poke remains into her skin.

Her lips opened to let out a scream but instead she focused her energy on closing her eyes and entering the happy world. But it seemed her mind was too focused on her pain and she began shrieking when he pulled her arm and broke it. It was hell back and forth. The pain, it was so excruciating. It broke through her numbness and sliced every awake nerve. After a little while, to her shock, it began to seem pain was better than the few pauses between hits. Her body needed to feel pain to know its okay. Oh God, what had she become?

She closed her eyes again and slightly bit her cheek from the inside of her mouth. She began to concentrate. Soon his voice was becoming distant and the numbness was beginning to fade along with the pain. She was trying to remember the comforting arms of her daddy. His face was almost clear in her vision, just a few wrinkles beside his wise eyes, straight nose, and thin lips. She lifted her hands to hug him – and as she was slipping into her own world a large 'POP' rebounded against the room's walls and in the distance, she felt Nathan being pulled back by someone. She could hear light foot steps in the background walking towards her and then stop.

" ?" His voice was low due to old age and she felt silk robes brush against her shoulder.

-But she didn't want to open her eyes. It seemed so serene. She was stuck between time and floating above the sky. The wind began to whistle and blew little white flowers on her face. Her daddy was so close by and she wanted to go to him. She mentally asked him when they would meet again-

" , get up this instant, we have to hurry! Your friends are in danger!"

She tried to stand up and yell at him to leave her alone but her body was too numb.

"Ms. Granger, this is no time to be playing games!" His long white beard swayed as his mouth moved so rapidly.

She tried to not concentrate on the pain and began to get up, once she heard her friends were in trouble. Slowly, she pulled up one knee and the other until eventually she was standing half-way. Then suddenly her knees crunched and she slumped to the ground again. Yet she attempted to get up again using her unbroken arm. With an "oof" she stumbled to the ground once again. She hated how weak she felt at the moment. It was humiliating to her pride when she couldn't even stand up in front of two people whom she didn't like. She was getting really annoyed and in addition to that, it hurt like hell. She wanted to scream.

She stared at him for a hard long minute, "What do you want now, Professor Dumbledore?"

"It takes guts for one to show their face after what they have done, and haven't you done enough?" Yet the old man ignored her rants and looked around. It was sickening how he pretended to act normal and continued to stroke his beard.

She was tired and wanted to be left alone in her alone world. It was funny because at one point she had admired her professor for his 'talents'. She used to think him and his white beard had a glow of an angel. Ha!- but he was no angel! She sighed and once again realized how alone she was and she felt the need to blame it on her professor. With all her might she threw clock that sat on the side table at her professor. " LOOK at Me! Look at my beaten body!"

She stopped to heave a breath in from her aching lungs," I can't even fucking move! – an-a-and you're telling me to hurry?" Yet the purple robed man seemed unaffected and she hated that. She wanted him to feel pain just as she was.

"Oh yes, that's right! You're just a pathetic old fool of a man. You hide behind other's glory! And what's even more stupid is your frickin damn motto! (scoff) 'Sacrifices for the greater good' my ass!" –

Her words cut deep and hit right on the centre nerve. The old man looked down and she saw a single tear fall. He looked so broken and she thought about apologizing for a second. All of a sudden the old man seemed even older and his combed straight beard curled a little, to signify his sadness. He slowly turned around to look at the bleeding and injured girl lying at his feet.

"Shut up" The old man whispered. Then he took a deep breath and with a sigh he said, "I'm only doing my duty and right now"

He stood taller and looked right in her eyes. "- And right now, I am here to tell you, you're friends are in danger! – so I insist you stop wasting time and hurry up."

"Don't bother old man. Do you actually expect this stupid girl to go help her so called friends?" Nathan who had been sitting on the floor, dazed, had now gotten come up to stand up beside Professor Dumbledore.

"She's a selfish little bitch" He scoffed at the girl lying underneath his feet. He had a sudden urge to hit her and claw out those glaring eyes. - His urges sometimes scared him. Was he okay? Was he normal? He shook his head and focused his hate on the girl that lay on the floor.

"Professor Dumbledore," She scrunched her eyes and pursed her lips. She hated Nathan for mocking her at this moment. But most of all she hated her competitive personality. Yet, she was too proud to carry out her challenge. Mentally, she soothed her Gryffindor pride for what was to come.

"Could you please heal my wounds?" She said these words in a rushed manner and tried to look straight at his face

The old man smiled in a mockingly fashion, "Now that wasn't that hard, was it? If only you had asked for help earlier, then we wouldn't have wasted so much time, hmm?"

He bent down and waved his wand a few times. The cuts and wound were healed but her bones were still sore. The elder offered his hand to the girl but she brushed it away. The man pretended to not notice and turned around.

"Miss Granger, we'll be traveling through floo to the Burrow. Are you ready?"

The teen looked at her clothes. They were just sweats and a loose baggy shirt. She didn't think when her friends were in danger that her clothes would matter much to others.

She nodded and he took out some floo powder from his pocket.

"Alright, why don't you go first, Miss Granger" He had a fake sweet smile when he said this.

"Hold on a minute," She walked towards Nathan. She felt the need to confront him about her feelings. She did it after every argument or beating. "Nathan, you are a sick, sick person, you know that? And I want you to know that, I won't ever forgive you for what you always do to me-"

"-I hope you die, I hope you die so that you don't have to come back here and make me feel so guilty about what I do." he hissed out low.

"-and I hope you fall one day. I hope you fall so hard that you won't ever be able to stand up again. Good bye Nathan and I hope we don't ever see each other again."

" ! We have wasted too much time already, I suggest you hurry!"

She staggered toward her professor and used the edge of the fireplace to balance her footage. Then she yelled "the burrow!" and all of a sudden she was swirling around in green flames.

She felt herself stop and the light shimmered around her. – And then all of a sudden she was pushed out the fireplace and to the ground.

"oof"

"-Hermione!" She looked up to see Harry's concerned face hovering above her. He offered his hand and she took it.

"Harry, what's wrong? Professor Dumbledore said you guys were in danger!" She franticly asked him and searched him for any wounds. It was funny how nothing – no pain – could affect her except Harry's health. Ever since she met him, she's always thought him as her brother. It was her duty as his sister to make sure he was okay and protected.

"No, I'm fine however Mr. Weasley is in the hospital. I had a vision of him getting attacked and I confronted Professor Dumbledore. It turns out I was right and he's being checked out at the moment"

"Oh okay, how's Ron and the other Weasleys?" She asked out of politeness

"They're not doing well but let's go greet them." Harry held her arm as he led her to the small living room. The fireplace was turned on and the low lights flickered frequently. The sofa's looked more damaged than before and the rugs were almost ripped. There was one window in the corner with old shirts being used as blinds. It was supposed to give you a homey feeling, but she didn't feel it.

"Hey guys, Hermione's here." All of a sudden a loud cry broke through the room as Molly Weasley poured out more tears. Harry gave her a sympathetic look and she returned it with a small grimace/smile

"Hey 'mione" Ron's low voice somehow reached her ears and past Molly's sobs. He was sitting with his sister, Ginny Weasley, with his arms around her. Ginny looked broken as she cried softly. Even Ron had few tear paths leaked on his cheeks. At the opposite wall corner, Fred and George sat with their backs to each other. They were silent despite the few tears on their faces. Even Charlie and Billy were here and they were comforting their mother.

She felt awkward and uncomfortable and she knew Harry felt the same way. Try as they might, they both knew that they would never be in their family. A few glimpses of her past flashed through her mind and she looked around to stop the tears. She remembered when her father broke his arm, and her and her mother nursed him back to health. And then when he got better, she remembered how they had gone out to get ice-cream. And she remembered how her mom had dropped her favorite strawberry sprinkle ice-cream and her dad had bought her a new one with a rose from another boutique. –And then suddenly her mother's face flashed through her mind – oh Mum!... She wished she was right here to tell her what to do. But she wasn't.

They stood there for a few minutes, shuffling and half pacing. And then Harry looked at her with a broken face expression and she felt so bad because she knew exactly what he was thinking about because she had been doing the same. She grabbed his hand and led him to the kitchen. She thought she heard Dumbledore enter the living room, as she left but she ignored it.

They quietly stood in the kitchen, with her cutting the vegetables and him cooking it. The sunset leaked through the tiny window and cast warm colours over the light cupboards and the floor. The table was an old dark homemade wood table with four legs and numerous magic made chairs. The ceiling was too low and the room was magically expanded. The young girl wondered how to start their conversation when the topic was too painful. She knew once she started talking, it would all come out.

"Harry, I miss them."

"Yeah, I know. I do too. I miss my parents even though I don't really remember them. And I hate the fact that I can't really remember them because it makes me feel more alone." He had started stirring faster as he talked about his parents.

"But it hurts no matter if you knew them or not." She stopped cutting and turned towards him. She felt the need to stop him from hurting.

The clock ticked and minutes went by but she continued to talk softly, "Every now and then you'll stare into space and wonder what would be if they were alive. Wouldn't the world be a happier place? Wouldn't my life be normal? Maybe I …- And then I'll start day dreaming a conversation with them. We'll talk with my mother's occasional smiles and my dad's loud laugh, just like before…."

Harry's soft and low voice broke through my thoughts, "And then you'll ask them why they had to leave you. But they never answer. And then you get angry but they only smile and keep repeating those three frickin words: "I love you" And slowly, one by one, they start to fade. Her vibrant red hair starts becoming pink and then white. Even her eyes become translucent. And my father's dark features become light and golden; he almost looks like a shining angel. In the distance, I can see myself sprinting after them, begging for them to stay. I keep repeating how sorry I am and how I wished things could've been different. But it's useless, because in the end you're left alone in the empty blank white room, no where else to go. It's all so confusing but I know one thing for sure, it's so much better than this stupid world"

He had walked up to stand beside her now, and she put her hand on his shoulder to convey her feelings. "Harry, you're not alone and never will be as long as I'm here. You know that right?"

"Yeah, I feel the same way Hermione. You're like my sister, my only family- Along with Sirius, of course." He let out a low laugh.

"Yeah, let's not forget good old snuffles." She laughed along with him.

"He really thinks of you as his own daughter, did you know that?" He turned around to look at her face. Her golden tresses and light olive hazel eyes glowed lightly around her pale face and gave her an aura of a broken person, and he hated that. He hated it when Hermione was sad; it was his duty to make her happy, as her only family in this world.

She nodded and looked out the window. In the distance she could hear the clock tick again, reminding her of the ever fast moving life around her.- The scene was beautiful but she knew it was fake and magic-made. The trees were tall and high and the sunset glimmered as it touched the lake lightly. The birds chirped and flew back to their nests. She breathed out lightly and thin fog appeared on the window. It was proof of her existence. It made her calm, knowing she was still alive even though she felt so numb.

He wiped away the fog from the window to look at the sunset along with her. It made her feel like he was wiping away her existence instead and she looked away, frightened from her thoughts. She turned back to cutting up ingredients for the soup he was making. It was just her stupid thoughts and she shook her head, not wanting Harry to notice her being scared.

She wondered what the Weasleys were doing, they were probably afraid too. She knew and understood their pain. She remembered talking to once about family. told her she was afraid of being alone, and that's why she liked having a huge family. She now understood 's fear too. Family was something that one should never take for granted. One should love them so much, so much, - that if they were to die today they would know that you loved them. But Hermione wasn't sure she had loved her parents as much, she felt that she took them for granted. Maybe, if she had not come to Hogwarts or never accepted her invitation, then they would have not been dead.

"I love you guys so much" she whispered to herself, wishing they were right here. She felt so lonely and vulnerable. She felt weaker than ever and she just wanted to fall and let the ground catch her. But she had a façade to keep up even though she was exhausted.

Harry noticed this. He knew Hermione too well. She was a perfectionist even if it meant sacrificing some things to achieve it, like her happiness. He wanted to shake some common sense into her and tell her to stop, but he knew he couldn't because that was who she was. He sighed.

He walked up behind her, and put his hand on her shoulder, "I've had enough of your stupid brave face. Its alright, you have to let it out and I'm right here. Please, Come on Hermione don't beat yourself over their deaths. It's not your fault!"

She turned around but she just couldn't let it out. She just couldn't let it out because there was no use. What could her tantrums and tears do to heal her pain? And Harry, oh her dear brother… no she couldn't burden him with her problems. She had to be the strong one.

She gave him a sad smile and patted his shoulder, "Thanks Harry, but I'm okay. I was just thinking about Hogwarts and our O. ." she gave a low laugh and sighed. "You know me Harry…"

"Stop it Hermione. Stop trying to be alone! I'm here for you! Dammit!" He was getting annoyed by her lack of response. He ran his hand through his hair and turned around. He was so confused and aggravated. He sighed out loud and turned around to face her again.

Out of frustration, he gripped her forearms tightly and slightly shook her. She tried to not let her gasp of pain escape her lips but she could not hide her slight flinch. It was a slight flinch but Harry noticed and he pushed his eyebrows together in confusion and now anger as well.

"What the fuck, Hermione? Why the hell are you hurt?" Not waiting for her response, he turned her forearm around and saw slight red scars from her skin being damaged by the vase shards.

"Honestly, Harry you worry too much. When I was flooing here, I fell and it hurts a little bit now." She pulled her arm back from him, and this time controlling her flinches.

"Rubbish, you and I both very well know that you are really strong, you're the best spellcaster and the creator of Dumbledore's Army - I can go on and on forever, so stop lying and tell me the truth."

"For goodness sake, quit thinking too much! I am fine and perfectly well. I should be asking you about how you feel instead. You just got mind-harassed by Voldemort!" She harshly whispered back at him.

He walked closer to her and looked right into her eyes, demanding her attention, "Why won't you just tell me?"

She glared back at him now, "'Cause I don't think it's necessary, so quit asking stupid questions! You already have too much to worry about so I suggest you stop playing the hero for once and focus on your problems, instead!" She knew she had gone too deep and hit a nerve with her statement, but perhaps it was worth it.

He unconsciously flinched at her words. He always took her seriously and her insult cut him deep. He did whatever he did when he was hurt: he got mad. His eyes took in a darker shade of green and his face began to heat up. He lifted his finger to point at her, "If you think, even for a minute-"

"-Uhh you guys okay?" At the entrance of the kitchen, there stood Ginny with puffy eyes and a confused face. Harry stood silent and brought his hand back in a fist. He turned around to control his anger.

"Yeah" Hermione walked forward and smiled. "We were just talking. – but forget about us, how do you feel right now?" She tried to change the topic. It was a little awkward when Ginny and she didn't talk much. Their friendship, at the beginning of first year hadn't lasted long when she had become friends with Harry. Ginny was and always would be jealous of Hermione.

Ginny didn't reply but instead walked up to Harry, "Hey there, you okay?" She put her hand on his shoulder, "I bet whatever Hermione said, she probably didn't mean it. Right Hermione?" Ginny looked back at the brunette with a questioning face.

Hermione stood there, uncomfortable, looking at the two of them. She felt awkward by Ginny's behaviour but she answered back with an unfocused 'yeah'

She didn't need this, not right now. So she was about to leave when but she saw Ron enter through the entrance. His tall and lanky presence was relieving in some sort of way. She had to smile at how he had his messy ginger hair covered by his favourite quidditch team hat.

"Hey, I heard yelling. Is everything okay?" His voice was hoarse due to him crying and worrying over his dad. His forehead had lines creasing and he looked more unusual than ever. She was just too used to the playful Ron that it made her uncomfortable to see him so serious.

"Yeah, we were just cooking food and then Hermione insulted my chef skills" Harry turned around and gave a small smile. Hermione smiled back at his façade. What world did they live in where Facades were commonly applied everyday?

"Oh alright" He stopped to smell in aroma of the food Harry was cooking. Too bad, for the first time in his life, he didn't feel like eating. "Well I just came in to say that they're allowing visitors at the hospital now. So we're all just going to go right now and visit Dad."

"Is Dad okay now?" Ginny's voice was weak and low but it was heard by everyone. She had remained silent through out. But right now she looked like the young girl she really was. It made Hermione turn around, unable to bear her own pity for the girl. Hermione wanted to keep that picture of Ginny's smug face inside of her mind, instead of this. It was just easier that way.

Ron sighed and ran his hand through his hair. It made Hermione realize that both Harry and Ron did that when they were frustrated or worried. "I really don't know Ginny, but Dad's a tough man and I bet he won't let the snake poison affect him. eh?"

Ginny nodded and walked towards Ron slightly smiling. Ron put his arm around her and kissed Ginny's forehead, before they walked out to the comfort of other family members.

Hermione smiled to herself. Ron was great brother and she felt proud of him, being able to be mature enough for his family, when they needed it. Who would've thought Ron could be so responsible. Deep in her own thoughts, she shook her head and started to leave the kitchen-

"Hermione," He called her name out and looked at her with concern.

"Yeah," She answered with her back still turned around.

"You know I'm here if you want to talk, right?" He asked her with a questioning tone.

Hermione turned around to look back at Harry and concentrated for a second, and then said, "Yeah"

There was silence after that, with Harry waiting for her to tell him everything and Hermione contemplating her decisions. The clock's short hands ticked and the sunset had long gone down. It had to be around 21 o'clock.

"You know, Harry there are some things that are better just unsaid because that way it keeps them from coming alive." Her voice was soft but not leaving any room for questions.

Out the corner of her eye, she saw him open his mouth to speak but she spoke before he could, "I'm going to go and visit at the hospital, with the rest of them"

She left the kitchen with the soup still cooking and uncut vegetable left on the counter. She left without giving him answers.

**A/N: hey guy i know you might all be wondering, when's Hermione going get kidnapped? - i know, i know the plot is going a little slow but i have to introduce some things first! Please be patient!**

**PLease Review!**

**Next Chapter: Draco's p.o.v**


	4. The Moon: The ghost of Earth

Disclaimer: The Harry Potter Series belongs to J.K. Rowling. I only own the plot of this fan fiction.

Chapter 05: Moon: The ghost of Earth

Malfoy Manor, Christmas break (1995)

The full moon shone an unusual high bright blue. It was alone with little stars but it still created a confident aura with its lime yellow glow. It was a beauty- almost like a ghost, the ghost of earth who haunted the world at night. As the full moon gleemed an eerie blue, it showed its imperfection. The dark shaded spots on the moon were vibrant and the imperfect shape was prominent. Yet the spotlight showed no mercy and flaunted its flaws and beauty at the same time.

Draco, the golden haired young man with cobalt blue and grey eyes, couldn't help but snort. Just like every being, the moon was not perfect. However, Draco knew how to hide his imperfections and so every time he looked up, he mocked the Moon. He didn't need the light to be great. He was a Malfoy, the great Draco Alexander Malfoy.

There were lime green ashes on his imported hand-knitted carpet, from the recent conversation with his Aunt Bella on the floo network. The wind along with fragile snow flakes blew in from the balcony gates and pushed upon the expensive emerald silk curtains. The weather was becoming chilly.

There was a meeting between the high Purebloods later tonight. It occurred every month or so. The five Ancient pureblood Families would gather, to discuss matters. Sometimes it was a serious formal event, other times it was a casual get together.

From the other room, he could faintly hear his father and his colleagues discussing a current attack. There were harsh whispers every now and then along with loud yelling. He assumed the assignment had not been as successful as they had planned.

Thunder roared and shook some family heirlooms in their place. Soon lightening followed and flashed a sharp light on the imported dark marble floor of the balcony. He silently wondered if he should eavesdrop on their conversation. After all, the only thing stopping him from doing so was his pride.

He stood outside, on his balcony, in the rain for minutes just listening to the clock tick and strengthening his five senses. He tried to close his eyes and identify the setting with only his sense of hearing. He practiced other skills too, such as defence and offence moves.

Then, having nothing else to do, he jumped on top of the balcony railing and dived straight down. It was a long drop from his bedroom balcony, but he didn't care. Rain pounded sharply against his skin and the wind howled angrily. His wet golden locks slapped against his head and he could feel the wetness of his robes against his skin. Slowly, he pulled his hands together on top of his head to form a slender arrow from his body.

And suddenly just as he was about to hit the ground, he summoned his new Silver Streak Broom. The Broom cupboards shook in the distant and the doors burst open as a slender but firm broom raced out. He expertly opened his hand, and the broom smacked into his palm. Then he quickly grasped it and leaped on to it with perfection.

He loved flying. He loved hovering above others and feeling majestic. Perhaps it was in his nature, as a kid but nonetheless, he just loved flying. It gave him freedom that was not accessible on land.

He knew the other kids from the legendary Purebloods would be there. Theodore Nott, the average brunette with hazel eyes would be there with his nosy father, Thomas Nott. Then there were the Yaxleys, with their young curious boy, Lactose. And the Flints would attend too, even though Marcus had already disagreed to hold responsibility as the family's heir. Though he wasn't sure about the Crests, they only attended when their appearance was needed.

His father had told him that the Crests were very clever and ambitious individuals, and not to be underestimated. Yet, he also knew that the Crest were not stupid to threaten the throne worthy Malfoys. After all, his grandfather was the council leader, and the Malfoy's lineage had always been, ever since Merlin appointed so.

Other than that, he didn't know much about the Crests, except that they had a son and their daughter had gone missing fourteen years ago. He silently noted that he had to do his research on them – he didn't like being left out.

Other pureblood families would surely attend too. Blaise Zabini would bring along his betrothed, Daphne Greengrass. And if there was an event happening, the Parkinsons would always attend, so he assumed Pansy would be there with her latest boyfriend, trying to make her betrothed jealous – but it never worked.

There was a flash of lightening along with a roar of thunder. He silently wondered if his mother was done preparing the meeting decorations at the Malfoy Castle. His broom gave a sudden lurch and he twirled around to maintain the balance.

He flew a couple of laps around his personal quidditch field. Then he stopped to take his top off. His muscles rippled as they tugged out of the buttoned sleeves. He threw his hand-made top in the air, unaware of where it landed. It slowly danced with the wind as it flew down to land on the ground.

It was almost time for the meeting and he needed to owl one of his mistresses to be his date for the occasion. Laura was his favourite and he preferred her the most because he'd had her for the longest time. In fact, she had been his first mistress with long dirty blonde hair and light blue eyes. She was a beauty and quite a good fuck, even though she was two years older than him.

He flew down and stepped back inside his wet floored balcony. Putting his broom aside, he quickly wrote a message telling Laura all the details for tonight's gathering. Next, he whistled for his personal eagle, Anxo, and tied the messaged to his feet. Anxo was a beautiful black eagle with beady yellow eyes. The eagle stared and the next moment it was gone, into the air with the message.

He stared at the eagle flying off in the distant for minutes until it became a dark speck in the sky. Then he just started to stare off in the distance, almost as if he was searching for something even though he wasn't aware of it. After moments of silence he felt his hair prickle slightly. Trusting his instincts, he turned around, but found nothing.

Then all of a sudden he heard screaming- Gut-wrenching desperate screams of a young girl. He quickly walked up to his front door, too curious to stand still. There was a female prisoner gripping his door's ledge and yelling as one of the low-rank death eaters tried to yank her back. The death eater was very rough and his sharp nails- from pulling too hard- had caused some of her skin from the back to rip.

She was a mess with tears pouring down her face and sobs erupting from her mouth. The young girl was a red head with plain brown eyes. Yet even though she was young, she had the figure of a woman with huge breasts and perfectly shaped hips. He remembered her as his father's recent whore.

With disgust, he regarded her and her pathetic attempts to run free. Too often, the prisoner would look up to him with pleading eyes. But he only lifted up his chin in return and ignored her stupid yelling.

"What is the meaning of this?" Draco snarled at the death eater. "How dare you disturb me with this lowly presence?" The word _presence _was snarled out angrily and directly pointed at the young girl.

The death eater could not help but stutter. "Sir, sh-she wa-was tr-tryi-trying to es-esca-escape!"

"Shut the fuck up and get out of my sight!" He snarled, clearly pissed at the man.

"But sir,-"

"Get out!" Draco's vein throbbed in his forehead and he whipped his wand out- without thinking he hexed the young man.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

The young man let out a gut-wrenching scream. It shook the servants of the household and made the quiver in fear by the sound. The dark hex was painful indeed. There was hot burning force peeling of his skin and turning it into ashes. And as the skin burn into ashes, the scorching force burnt and clawed out the man's flesh. His solid flesh was now a burning pink liquid.

After a few minutes, the man was dead on the ground. His body now remained in ashes and dirt. It took only a simple _scrougify _to clean up the mess and all evidence was gone.

The young man then dusted his hands off and regarded the young girl on the floor. He wasn't surprised to see her whimpering and flinching at every movement made in her sight. Pathetic.

For a moment, he wondered if he should keep her for a good fuck but then that thought was immediately disregarded, when he remembered she was his father's seconds. The whore was a disgusting bitch.

"What the fuck are you looking at?" He snarled at the girl and then he kicked her in the face and walked away. In the background he could hear the elves popping in and taking the prisoner back to her cell. She would later be fed to the Malfoy creatures.

He walked along the manor hallways noting every little detail of his home. It truly was beautiful in every concept and he felt pride at that thought. Finally after minutes of travelling, he arrived outside.

There was a grand lake in a corner, located according to a certain manner. He walked towards it and simply sat on the floating benches. The carved bench slowly glided over the lake and around.

He looked at his reflection in the lake. He wasn't stupid. He knew he was a monster. A frightening monster who loved his being and relinquished his glory in each breath of wrongdoing.

But he could not simply resist his temptations of the dark. The night, the dark was beautiful. It was freedom without direct consequences, and isn't that what every being wanted? And Draco was no different.

From the corner of his eyes, he saw Laura arrive at the gate. The Malfoy servants opened the door. Even from far away, he could see she looked hot. She was wearing an ice blue strapless dress that reached three inches above her knees. Her blonde hair was curled into a perfect bun.

"Good evening Lord Malfoy, How do you do?" She asked in a breathless whisper as she curtseyed to him. Her sharp blue eyes looked at him with hidden but peakable seductiveness as she bowed low enough for him to get a good sight of her cleavage.

"Impressive as usual Laura," He commented on her whole persona. "But, let's not forget, in the end you're just a bitch desperate for money and large Penis's in your hot wanton pussy"

She knew that after all how could she forget when every time she went home to a small apartment building full of her poor family members? But his words still hurt nonetheless and it brought small tears at the corner of her eyelashes. Yet she remained standing, uncertain of what to do next.

Draco contemplated his choices. Laura was a fucking hot ass chick and looked quite fuckable in her dress. Yet at the same time he could not forget how desperate of a bitch she was. However in the end, the fact remained true that he was a warm-blooded male.

He gazed at her body thoroughly making Laura self-conscious. And then he looked at her eyes and then all of a sudden he grabbed her waist and kissed her roughly. She wrapped her arms around his neck in return and moaned out loud. His hands were roaming freely across her back as he twisted and curled his tongue in her mouth. It was a fierce battle with him dominating every attack. There were no sparks, no butterflies, just plain hot lust.

After a few minutes they both stopped due to lack of oxygen and he let go of her body immediately. She tried to not take notice and neither offence and looked down.

"There were details listed in the letter that I sent, and I do believe that you read and have understood them, hmm?" He questioned.

"Yes, Lord Malfoy" she answered back.

"Good, that makes things much easier." He nodded absently before continuing, "Well as you've been informed, the meeting begins at thirty minutes after twenty hours sharp. So we will be leaving shortly, why don't you go wait with mother in the front foyer?" He explained everything as they strolled down the fields and into the enormous building.

"As you wish, Lord Malfoy" she said as if she had practised those words many times before. With her words, she curtsied and walked down the path to the front building.

He ran his hand through his beautiful blonde hair and looked up once again. There was the moon that shone an unusual high bright blue. It was alone with little stars but it still created a confident aura with its lime yellow glow. It was a beauty- almost like a ghost, the ghost of earth who haunted the world at night. He sighed and rubbed his neck. It was going to be a long night…

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

"Hey! Draco, my man, how's your break been?" Blaise, a tall dark skinned fellow, grinned as he walked up to Draco. Blaise Zabini, his childhood friend had hazel eyes with shoulder length black knotted hair and always wore a smile. Sometimes his fake cheeriness would annoy him but at the same time he was an intelligent boy who knew his standing rank-which he never crossed.

Beside him stood, Daphne Greengrass who was a pretty brunette with dark brown eyes. She wore an expensive grey silk dress with black trimmings that contrasted well against her dark tanned complexion. Her face was accessorized with long silver earrings and a thick diamond necklace. Yet she was average with a small bosom and medium height.

"Good evening lord Malfoy" Her voice was a high feminine sound and she curtsied after relaying her words.

"Evening, " He nodded back at her in politeness.

He looked back at Laura, "Laura Debem, meet Blaise Zabini and his betrothed Daphne Greengrass"

"A pleasure to meet you, " Blaise raised her hand and gave it a light peck

"Nice to meet you as well" Daphne's voice was heard after Blaise as she hugged Laura and air pecked her cheeks.

"No, no, the pleasure is all mine" Laura with her perfect presentation, her lovely voice sang out her words, ending with a light laugh.

"Well, how are you enjoying the ball thus far?" Blaise said as he started light talk.

He silently tuned their voices out as he observed the decorations. As usual his mother had done a marvellous job.

The grand windows were covered with long light and breezy black cloths and they danced in the wind. Candle lights floated atop square tables and lounging bars. The tables were covered with red velvet and food appeared at choice. The floor and ceilings had been refurnished to suit the event. There was dark, almost raven coloured wood built on the floor and stage. The ceiling was decorated with magic dragons flying and guarding the sky. He imagined that later on the dragons would drop gifts for the guests.

He looked back at Blaise and his date. They were getting along pretty well. His head turned toward Daphne, who looked pretty left out and was twirling her straw in her glass. Stupid girl. He knew that they both were betrothed and they both weren't happy with the agreement, yet their presentation was awful.

"Blaise, where's Theo and Marcus? I am certain that they were invited yet their presence is yet to be identified" He looked at Blaise with a raised eyebrow while he talked.

Blaise, the young man released a nervous laugh, and tried to hide his flinch. After all Draco Malfoy was not one to be messed with, something that they learned as little children. Still, he cleared his throat.

"Ahh, yes well Theo's with Astoria helping Pansy get Marcus's attention and Marcus… And well Marcus is with the… Crests"

"The Crests? Well that's surprising as it seems that this the fifth gathering they've attended since their daughter went missing." He scanned the hall and spotted them out quickly. He wrapped his arm around Laura's waist, "Coming Blaise?"

"Of course" Blaise grinned back and grudgingly put his arm around Daphne as they quickened their pace to meet Draco.

They finally reached their destination. There were three members of the Crests present. There was a young man, not much older than himself and then there was the Lord and Lady Crests.

"Good Evening, you must be Draco Malfoy, son of Lord Malfoy" The young man stepped forward to greet him. Draco stared him down silently as he assessed the young man in front of him. He had black raven locks, a strong jaw, and green sharp eyes. He was smiling and had his hand out for Draco to shake. Yet Draco from experience could tell the man was definitely not friendly as he looked. So he smirked and grasped his hand and in return gave a small nod.

"By the way, name's Khalid" He stated as he turned around to greet Blaise.

"Nice to meet you Lord Crest, I'm Blaise, Blaise Zabini and this is Daphne Greengrass and Laura Debem" Blaise casually stated and introduced the two ladies present in their presence.

"Call me Khalid, after all I think the title lord is better suited to my father" Khalid commented as he kissed the ladies hand and winked at them. The girls giggled back at the handsome young man.

"So Khalid, why is it that I have not seen your attendance in the previous gatherings?" Draco demanded without beating around the bush. As Draco expected, Khalid's surprised and panicked facial expressions were very visible. It took sometime for him to maintain control over himself. Draco smirked.

But Khalid was not a fool," Well it seems that is rather personal to ask for just a mere stranger, don't you think?" Khalid answered with a question. The young Crest's smug face was also very visible to Draco.

"Yet here I thought we were close pureblood acquaintances" Draco mocked Khalid and let out a chuckle And then in a lower tone he added, "After all, do keep in mind that there will be a time when we will be expected to come _close _and work together, hmm?"

There was a clear message hidden behind those words. Khalid, as confident a man he was, could not help but shiver under Draco's gaze. There was just something about the Malfoys which gave him a danger vibe. However, he still was able to gather himself together and answer back.

"Yes, and when _that _times comes, we will do as expected." Then Khalid quickly turned around and looked at Blaise as an excuse. And he clapped his hand together and grinned, "However, with all due respect, do you not think today is a gathering of happiness to signify the Muggle's Christmas spirit and not of such silly matters?"

"Well Khalid, you seem to have the answers in your questions." Draco drawled out, irritated from the lack of response. "As you said, Christmas is a _muggle _tradition or have you forgotten your own identity as a pureblood?" Draco hissed the last few words out.

Laura instinctively stepped back but Draco's grip was too strong. He clutched her waist, tight. Then Draco, furious, used wand less magic to cut long wounds into her skin. The dress never ripped yet blood soaked through her expensive dress from the back. Daphne and Blaise noticed and looked at her with pity, but did not comment due to fear of Draco. Laura, Draco's first mistress, the woman who took Draco's virginity, the one who had even let Draco beat her in his anger, stared at him in awe-fear.

She stared at him in wonder of his capabilities. This man was frightening yet very captivating. He was unusual in every aspect but forgotten of his humanity. Laura knew that Draco was taught as a little boy to keep his face clean of any emotions. And so he was forced to release his humanity through other ways. Such as when he got mad, he needed to clutch things whether it may be his own veins or someone. Or when her lord was frustrated, he ran his hand through his hair. Then the most remember able habit of his, his adam bopping higher when he was happy.

Laura noticed all of this. And then she also remembered his frightening powers. Draco was indeed a man of power and cruelty. She knew that when he didn't get what he wanted, he needed to make other's share his feelings. Perhaps that is why her dignity and honour was stripped every time he didn't achieve his goals. And similar to the present scenario and all the other ones before, she was scared. She was scared shitless.

She wanted to cry and run to safety. But how was she supposed to know what safety was when her heart had accepted Draco as her dark beautiful knight. He had seemed like everything she had dreamed as a little girl. A handsome tall man, with big arms and a strong character. Yet how was she supposed to know handsome knights were so cruel? The frickin deceiving fairytales never told her that! And so just like that a tear sprinkled down her rosy cheeks.

Perhaps it was her fault. She was never a princess to begin with but great at dressing up and pretending to be one. It was a game she had played with her sisters as little kids. She would wear her mum's only dress and tie leaves together as her crown. And then when she was tired, her mum would come smiling and gently change her clothes. Then slowly her mum would put her to sleep and her world would become heaven again. But it wasn't working this time. And this game of life was too tiring but never-ending. And perhaps that she the fake princess didn't deserve a real knight.

The musician's played a slow but a merry tune, an unbefitting sound to the present scenario, and many couples danced. It was a pretty and peaceful sight as sparkles sprinkled down on to the dancers. The lights were dim now as well. Laura turned her head away from the sight and patted her tears away.

Laura then looked at Blaise who was repeating the motion of curling and uncurling his fingers. He almost – _almost _seemed nervous. Then Blaise silently and slowly wiped his hands on his pants.

"Khalid, please keep those silly excuses for other fools. This is a pureblood gathering where the environment should be kept free from filthy muggle practices" Blaise smiled tightly, supporting Draco's statement in the end. Then he proceeded to guide Khalid to the tables.

"Now let's forget this hogwash and merry each other with ancient wine, alright?" Blaise quickly but patiently spoke. Daphne nodded along to show her support as well.

Draco scowled at Khalid's retreating back and turned around to call up a waiter. Stupid man. His banter had provided no information and thus had been useless. He scratched his throat lightly and desired for a drink. He growled and kicked a mental image of Khalid. Stupid Crest Boy- he really needed a drink. As he was about to raise his hand to signal a waiter, he saw, from the corner of his eye, The Crests and his parents walking out to the gardens.

Confused, he continued to watch them walk out. Lord Crest stood proud and in front along with his father, who kept narrowing his eyes at his acquaintance. Behind them, both ladies walked. Lady Crest wore a tight smile while his mother looked straight ahead. As they stepped out, his father slowly twisted his head both ways before moving on. An Unusual case.

He decided to follow them, but first he needed to discard his date. "Laura honey, I believe is feeling quite lonely. Why not be a good friend and give her company, hmm?" He dismissed her in a polite manner.

Laura gave a shaky nod and dared not to deny him, "Oh dear me, how could I forget? Dear Pansy, all alone…Of course I will accompany her." She quickly escaped Draco's presence and let out a shaky breath she had been holding on too ever since.

Draco paid her no heed as he narrowed his eyes to regard his parent's behaviour. There was definitely something suspicious about this scenario. – And he intended to figure it out.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

The wind blew gently, causing some tendrils of the young Malfoy's hair to dance and then suddenly fall. The motion repeated itself over and over. He squatted outside the garden entrance and leaned in to listen to their conversation.

The garden was gorgeous as expected from Malfoys. It was organized and planted logically. Roses were planted on both fences on each side and were aligned vertically to lead to the centre of the garden. They were patterned from dark red, black, and Gent Magic white roses. On the other side of the fences, all other coloured roses were planted. In the middle, there was an outdoor shelter magically enchanted from the inside to suit the conditions of the individual inside it. Regardless, it was breath taking.

From the small hole, he had carved with his wand; he looked in at the scenario being presented. The men took the women's coats off before taking their own, and sat down, pulling a chair for each lady first. Once they were seated, Draco was able to regard their attire and faces. Lady Crest was a pretty and presentable wife, just as it should be. She had light auburn locks with sharp olive green eyes and a small mouth. She was average height with a petite figure. Her dress looked expensive with scarlet silk gathering at the bottom and starting with a classy black lacy corset.

On the other hand, Lord Crest was a tall man with broad shoulders. He had shoulder length dark pitched raven locks with wonderful emerald eyes. His impassive face was set in a quirky smile – something in-between a smirk and a dangerous smile. And his eyes were unreadable except for a spark of a troublemaker. At the moment, he was dressed in a black wizard tuxedo with a black dress robe that had lining the colour of his wife's eyes. Lord Crest took hold of a drink from the tray and lightly sipped it, then crossed his ankles.

"Ahh Lucius, it's been too long. How has life been treating you?"

"Life's good. Very good indeed but I don't know if that could said about you?"

"Why, have you been keeping tabs on me? It seems you know more than what I thought" The raven haired man paused to think before taking another gulp of his drink.

"Or perhaps you lack the ability of keeping your personal life private. If you must, go up to any old fellow here at the ball and they'll know what you try so hard to hide."

"Alright, alright, you got me there, Lucius" Lord Crest chuckled before putting his hands up in a mockingly fashion. "Oh please, the great Lucius, will you ever forgive me for my unbefitting choice of words?"

"Oh Adamo, you're as comical as ever!" Narcissa commented on the dark haired man's actions.

"Well I do try, Cissy"

Lucius who had been silently observing Janette's change of character decided to speak his mind,"Why Jannette, you've been unusually quiet this evening. How are you? How is your son?"

"Oh Lucius, I'm just a little tired from travelling all the way here to London for the gathering."

"That's too bad, I have missed your uprising and happy attitude. I hope Draco is taking good care of your son after all he must be tired too"

"I'm sure Khalid can take care of himself"

"Yes, yes it's not like he's going to run away from his responsibilities or allow his parents to send him away, hmm?"

"Lucius, why don't you just get to the damn point? Tell us why you brought us here in to this place?" Adamo intervened in the conversation Lucius was having with his wife

"Damn it, you know why I brought you here! Where's your daughter? Where is my son's betrothed!"

"I don't know! I have been searching for her for years and I still don't know!" Adamo replied while gradually raising his voice

"You're lying! This was all part of your plan from the beginning, wasn't it?" Lucius accused the dark haired man.

"NO, my daughter went missing! She was frickin KIDNAPPED! Damn you!" AT Adamo's statement, Lady Crest broke in to tears at the reminder of her daughter gone missing. She shook silently while Narcissa stared at her, unsympathetically.

"Enough with your stupid excuses" Lucius demanded. His cane was in his hand and he gripped the top emerald knob tightly. "You very well know that an agreement was made on the day you found out your second child would be a female!"

"I know! –And I had every intention of keeping that promise but as I've told you before, she was kidnapped!" Adamo replied back, all the while standing up on his feet to express his irritation.

"She's been missing for fourteen years now and the contract still signifies that she is alive. If she was kidnapped wouldn't they have killed her by now? It doesn't make sense Adamo!" Lucius stated trying to make sense of the whole situation

"I don't know ! Fuck it, I don't know….. She's my only daughter Lucius! -and she's somewhere out there, missing!" Adamo put his hands through his head and slumped back on the chair.

Lucius regarded his long time friend with sympathy for awhile. He considered sitting down beside him and reassuring that it would be fine and it was time for him to man up – like they used to do when they were kids in school. But time had changed and he had his own family to consider and in the end, his wife and kid would come before Adamo – even though he hated to admit it. So he mentally shook his head and put his poker face back on.

"Adamo, you've got two years to find your daughter or I myself will arrange a team to go hunt her down" The long blonde haired man said with a firm voice. Then he sighed, "You know the rules," Lucius sat back down too. "Draco can't get his inheritance until he's married and has an heir for the family name"

"Yeah," Adamo muttered back as he continued to stare at the wall in front of him

"Two more years, Adamo"

"I know..."

Then both men took their drinks and sank into deep thought. – And the women could only look and hope for the future.

On the other side of the door, a young boy unconsciously scooped a handful of dirt and curled his hand into a fist. The tighter his hand squeezed the dirt, the faster it slipped out of his hold – just like his emotions.

His eyes narrowed sand he locked his jaw tight until his teeth were grounded against each other. Everything he had worked hard for was now in control of a stupid girl. It was not right. Ever since he was a kid, his mind had been formed to be perfect so that one day he may inherit the Malfoy name and have all the control he wanted. Anger drew out of his heart which quickly formed into hate for the unknown girl.

He vowed to himself that he would not let this girl get the best of him. He would find her and force her to marry him. She was not going to get in the way of his plans.

He gritted his teeth tighter and stood up. He looked at the moon - the moon that had shone an unusual high bright blue. But now it was a dark red. It was high with little stars and created a confident aura with its dark yellow glow. It was a beauty seeking vengeance - almost like a ghost, the ghost of the earth who haunted the world at night.


	5. We Stitch these Wounds

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling

Thank you for all you have reviewed. As usual, all your words inspire me.

p.s. the curse translates to "Mark thy bride to my sight"

**Chapter: We stitch these Wounds**

**(Two years later- End of summer before Seventh Year)**

The wind howled and hooted like an owl as if it was whispering a warning but continued to dance, realizing the ignorance of humans. The trees bent side to side, dancing along the wind and showering it with gifts of leaves. The wind howled in annoyance and pushed the leaves away. – And off they flew up in the sky. Too soon the leaves felt the harsh cold of reality and started falling. They all collapsed down to the ground- except two lonesome leaves that hung by the thin thread of a branch. Loneliness turned into companionship, then into friendship and soon into love.

That's how Hermione witnessed Billius Weasley and Fleur Delacour`s love. They were like two lonesome leaves abandoned by the Wizard society. A half-Werewolf and a Half-Veela, both alone, until they met each other.

And she couldn't help but feel hope for the future because today was the day. Today was the day that Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour were celebrating their union. And it seemed like everyone was excited about it except for her. They were all jumping up and down, celebrating with drinks, thankful for a distraction from the war's pain.

Although she was glad, it just seemed that there was always something missing from her life. And she hated it. She just felt so empty all the time, like she didn't belong here anymore.

-Yet she knew she had to be strong, if not for herself, then for her loved ones. So everyday she woke up- looked out the window with a sigh- and then reminded herself that they were others going through much worse than her. And even though that did not help soothe her pain, it gave her another reason to live for. And she needed every ounce of little help to not brake.

"Hermione honey, you look gorgeous!" exclaimed from behind, as she stood in front of the mirror. She wore a strapless deep red gown that reached all the way down with her hair carefully folded into an elegant bun.

"Thanks, as do you " Hermione mumbled out her response as she grabbed her hand bag, off the floor. She tried to muster up a smile as she looked back up, but it somehow managed to look creepy. She sighed and gave up on looking happy

She regarded herself in the mirror one last time. Over the years, her hair had slowly turned into a darker shade of colour- almost black and her eye colour had lightened, that now she could not tell if it was hazel or olive green. She let out another sigh, feeling rather plain and remembering the past taunts from young boys.

As she put her dull and old black flats instead of the nice tall black sandals, she also painfully noted how tall she had grown over the past few months, now at almost five feet and eight inches.

Straightening up, she looped her bag side ways and over her shoulder. She tried to look everywhere but at the mirror, where she knew her gaze would be directed at her dark circles.

As she walked towards the bedroom's door, she heard a faint laugh. She stopped for a moment, her heart's beating rate, slower than usual. It saddened her to admit, that such a small laugh was the first of true happiness she had heard in a long time. She turned her head to spot source of bright energy.

From the corner of the room, Ginny turned around. "-Mum, how do I look?"

"Oh Sweetie, you look absolutely STUNNING!" Mrs. Weasley yelled with tears in her eyes, as she stepped forward to hug her only daughter.

The young girl laughed as she returned the hug, "Thanks Mum, you're the best"

Hermione smiled sadly at the mother/daughter bonding, before muttering a small excuse, and exiting the room. She felt glad, that both women were getting some time together. After all, they needed it.

After the attack on Mr. Weasley , two years ago, he had lost one of his legs. It shook the family really up, especially since Mr. Weasley had lost his job and there was no money income.

And after a few months, the government closed down Charlie's dragon company, to invest the money in a war weapon manufacturing company. Not too later, Bill was fired from his job as well for his status as a blood-traitor.

Harry tried to help by suggesting they use the money from his account. However, after a few months, the little limited money, his parents had left for school was all used up. It was too unfortunate that the rest of his inheritance could only be used after he turned of legal age.

Hermione had even tried to help by giving all of her little salary money from her part-time summer job at the pub, to the Weasleys. But it was too less to support a nine member-family.

At the end, even with everyone's support, the Weasleys were forced to sell the 'Burrow'. From all, had felt the worst. He had worked hard day and night to build that house for his family, and now he was forced to sell it.

It had been a depressing event as had handed his keys off to a stranger. Ronald, who had seen his father even shed a few tears, had vowed that one day he would get that house. –And Hermione and Harry had agreed and promised to help Ron fulfill his promise.

However, it seemed that the promise was not meant to be fulfilled, because a month later after being sold, the owner had torn the house down and sold it to another landlord.

Ronald, devastated had gone back to see the old Burrow property, along with Hermione and Harry, but there was nothing left. Instead there was a huge industry with workers bustling around. It just hadn't seemed right, and the trio had left as soon as they entered.

The nights after selling the burrow, had been especially hard. The Weasleys didn't have a place to go. It was just nights after nights at multiple Knight bus stops.

The wizard houses were too expensive so it had been Hermione who had finally suggested that they live in a muggle basement. Having no other option, they had agreed. Now the Weasleys – all with minimum wage jobs- lived in a small town.

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"Hey! Ron, you made it!" Bill's surprised voice rang out in the living room. Even from far away, Hermione could see Ron's tired expression and worn out attire.

He had grown up so much. He had longer hair now, almost up to his middle back, and usually kept it open. His Jaw was more prominent making his face structure look strong which complemented his broad shoulders. He was now the tallest Weasley too at six feet high.

The whole Weasley family gathered around to hug and welcome him home. They kissed his cheeks and hugged him. It was an everyday ritual for them at the arrival of a family member. After all, every day was a relief for Molly, when her kids all came back home to her.

Soon, the amount of Weasleys surrounding Ron decreased and went about with getting ready.

Hermione waited patiently along with Harry on the side, as they made small talk. Harry had grown up as well. No longer was he the scrawny eleven years old. His hair had gotten wilder and was always styled up, showing his scar and emerald eyes proudly. Harry had finally hit his growth spurt this summer and was now five feet eleven inches.

"Hey guys," Ron grinned as he approached the rest of the Golden Trio.

"Hi Ron, how was work?" Hermione smiled and hugged him. With her best friends, it was the only time she received comfort and relief.

"Yeah, did the customers cause any trouble?" Harry asked him with a worried expression. It was a small town with no real order, and everyday there were new crimes occurring.

"Nah, not today," He shrugged and looked towards the young girl beside him, "Hermione, if you don't mind… could you?"

Catching on quickly Hermione said, "Yeah, sure no problem"

Stepping back, Hermione raised her wand and crossed her arms two times and muttered a spell. Red sparks jumped out of Ron's hand. Next, she raised her hand again and pointed her wand at Ron's head and muttered another spell. This time a mist of magic trailed around him and transformed his old clothes into a tuxedo.

"What are you? The Fairy Godmother?" Harry teased and laughed, yet try as might, it never reached his eyes anymore.

"Oh hush," Hermione muttered back with a tight smile. She let her head fall, secretly unable to see Harry's uncontrollable fake expression that accompanied his laughter.

"No but really, Hermione, if it wasn't for you and that spell of yours, we would have never been able to use underage magic without the ministry finding out" Ron thanked Hermione.

Hermione nodded and gave him another small smile, from her seat on the low stool.

Harry spoke up now, remembering something.

"Hey Hermione," He called her name, "I forgot to ask you," Hermione raised her eyebrows, prodding for him to continue, "- but never got the chance to, _since_ you were avoiding me –"

"Harry, I wasn't-"

"-I saw a bruise on your shoulder, yesterday" He demanded before she could open her mouth again, "Has anyone been bothering you at the club?"

"Hermione?" Ron also questioned with a worried expression on his tired face.

"It was nothing, I swear" She looked down immediately before looking up again.

"I just fell on the sidewalk when I was walking home the other day," She stated whilst looking above their heads.

"Don't lie to us, Hermione" Ron spoke out loud, as he leaned on the door ledge to grimace from his recent untold injuries.

"I'm not and besides, I'm fine now!" She gave a small forced smile to end her statement. She was no stranger to forced abuse.

"I don't give a fuck, I'm going to come to work with you tomorrow and ask your manager, what the fuck happened to you?!" Harry said, ignoring her earlier statement.

"See this is why I don't talk to you guys much these days, you guys worry too much! I can frickin take care of myself!" She said with her fists tight and eyes staring down at her best friends. It was just too much when they got protective of her. Didn't they get it?

"Look Harry and Ron," She quieted down and began softly. "I need this job and if I get fired…," She sighed and started again "You guys out of all know how hard it is to get a job these days and especially for Muggle-Borns like me, when every place is trying to get me captured and handed in to the Muggle-Born Registration Commission"

"We know, it's just-" Harry tried to reason

"-Just what?" Hermione accused; annoyed that they thought they could protect her forever.

She had learned a long time ago that hiding from reality wasn't going to help her. Her mind suddenly wandered back to the past, as she remembered her own pain.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

**Hermione's recall of past events**

**Two years ago**, at the hospital, after the news of Mr. Weasley's side effects from the attack, Hermione had told Harry the truth. She had finally told him that she was adopted and had no idea who her biological family was. She told him about her aunt and abusive cousin. She had told him about Dumbledore.

It had taken a long time for him to actually process her situation. But when he did, he had confronted her in a school hallway.

Harry at first yelled at her for keeping it a secret for so long. Then he had continued yelling out his thoughts in the empty hallway. But after, not too soon, he had finally calmed down and had let Hermione explain the details.

Ron soon figured out what all the tension between his best friends had been about, and grew quite angry. Ron being Ron; had walked away.

That's how he solved his problems. He could never think with a hot head and so he had walked away to clear his head. But Hermione had understood.

A week later, while she had been eating breakfast, he had come inside and hugged Hermione and reassured her that he would always be there for her. With a relief, she had accepted him back.

Talking to Harry and Ron, had definitely taken a burden off of her shoulders but her situation had not improved. Break after break, she was forced to go back to her aunt's house- and the beatings got worse every time. And as Nathan grew older, his sick mind thought of more ways to endow pain.

A few months later, after fifth year, her aunt passed away. And Nathan became her guardian. It was like coming home to a rape centre. He always had his rich friends over, and cupboards stacked with alcoholic drinks and bedroom drawers stashed with drugs.

She tried to avoid them at all costs by staying locked up in her bedroom. Even though she knew a couple of combat skills, they were no use against twenty grown men, and so she was defenseless in that house without her magic.

Hermione knew what was eventually going to happen. It was no matter of time, before one of Nathan's drunken friends would break down her bedroom door and rape her.

Nathan's abuse hurt. Each whip or a strong punch sent a thousand jolts of pain through her body. At times, his abuse led her to believe that she was not worthy.-That she was pathetic and should die. She felt as if she was a burden and if she died, no one would miss her. At times, she felt broken.

The truth was that after losing many things in her short life, she had grown to be very caring of her possessions. And she knew it was only a matter of time before her identity was ripped and she was raped.

And although Hermione had lost her faith and hope, she just couldn't lose her honor and dignity. So at night, when her cousin and his friends were unconscious due to the intake of too much alcohol, she had sneaked out. She had run away.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

**Beginning of a Flashback**

There were multiple beer bottles shattered and crushed along the sides of the road. Every now and then, some glass from the broken streetlights would sprinkle down and blind an innocent. Few houses had their windows ripped out and thrown on the sidewalk. All that was left on their yard was brittle soil with wrinkled worms.

With limited supplies in her beaded bag she had lived on the streets for few weeks. Every night, she hid underneath the bushes or under a parked car, in a dark alley, trying to sleep.

Her food supply lasted two weeks, and then afterwards she was resorted to stealing. There were no homeless centres there that could help her either. She hated stealing, and would often try to pay them back with what limited change found from the ground.

She tried to contact the Weasleys, Harry, or even the order, but the place was a stranded town, where rich people usually came to hide their secrets from the media. And since Nathan's dad was a very popular movie director, he fit right into the secrets of this town. -Which meant that there were no owls, there was no contact to her world.

Every day she worried how she was going to get back to Hogwarts. Would she always be stuck in this town?

She was always so cold and sick, and this town was no better. The town was also cold and no one took pity or cared. They all had their own miseries to battle here.

Sometimes she lay in the middle of dark alleys, crawled up into a ball, after escaping the angry men whom she stole from. She would be hungry and starving. Her stomach would cramp and she would thirst for any comfort. She would fight her droopy lenses to stay awake in her sick health.

And slowly in hushed whispers, she would make talk with her deceased parents. She would pray that she would not have to torment this horrible life another day, then she'd quickly ask for forgiveness from God for asking too much.

In her state of desperation she would curl her fist around her wand and stare up at the polluted sky. Her mind would haze over the gold glow of the magic that she missed so much. The gold spotty glow would swirl and entangle with purple. And then she would take out her wand and wonder would it be worth it? Would her life be worth taking away her magic?

If she used magic to save her life, then the ministry would take away her wand. She just wanted to let it go. But she had no way out of it and she was stuck in the loneliness of this world.

One month after running away from Nathan, she had been sprinting away from the stall owner as he chased after her for stealing his fresh bananas. She urged her legs to run faster once again. How many times had she deceived her mind to think this was the last time?

Her jeans were brittle and frigid along with Nathan's sweatshirt which was tittered and threatened to fall off from her shoulders. It was almost winter, and the streets were wet than ever.

"Thief! Thief!" the man screamed behind her.

'Oh God' she plead as she felt her legs beginning to numb and crumble.

"GET HER! She's a Thief!" The man screamed once again.

A young tall man with a blue hat was standing in the very small crowd, when he heard the ruckus. He turned to look for the person who was yelling. He faintly heard what the man was screaming.

Suddenly, there was a stir in the crowd as they gathered at the corner of the street. He had shaken his head at the stupidity of people.

-Then as quickly as it came, it disappeared down the street. It was a blur of clothes with long soft hair. He turned around to hear the man clearly state she was a thief.

The podgy man that had yelled, stopped, out of breath and called out for help one more time. Then finally he yelled out a reward for capturing her- saying he was tired of her stealing- and people began to whisper.

The man thought. He needed money and a little running would be a little sacrifice in return for the reward. Slightly leaning forward, he began to sprint. A few moments later, he spotted her around the corner. Breathing in deeply, he urged his legs to move faster. With the vision of money in view, he continued to lean forward and pound his feet on the brittle but wet pavement.

'Blimey, she's a fast runner' he thought and tried to grasp her whipping hair with the tips of his finger, for the fourth time. But suddenly the young girl took a sharp left and he ran after her with full vigour. Then the clever girl stopped, sharply, and ran to another direction. Her movements were quick, and his mind was too slow to process and plan his own movements.

He realized that this chase was just a waste of time and the girl wasn't going to slow down any time soon. He tried to look for a weapon while at the same time, he kept his speed constant.

She led him through dark alleys, street markets, and under old bridges. Now she was sprinting her way through the town's fish market, where boats were aligned side by side and there was a sharp smell of fish in the air.

His mind was spinning and the only thing that registered in his mind was the girl's smooth flesh and the fish hook that was dangling from a cord.

It all happened too fast. For a moment the crowd had been bustling live with chatter, used to the chase of a thief, and the next moment it had all gone quiet.

The young man had grabbed the fish hook, jumped, and pierced through the first contact of flesh, which had been her hand as it had tried to defend itself. The young girl's heart-wrenching scream of pain had echoed against the stalls.

She stopped in the middle of the street and held her right hand close to her chest and trembled. And the man took his chance as he took a pair of ropes and quickly tied her hand to it and then proceeded to wrap it around, quickly.

Soon she was defenceless and the squished bananas tumbled out of her grasp. The girl eyed them with hunger but quickly returned her eyes to her capturer, and gave him a glare.

Her chest heaved up and down and her nose was pink and runny. Her knees shook and shivered under the cold, but she remained still. And her accustomed to greasy hair was now actually frizzy even after so many days of not showering.

"You know, the stall owner has put a quite of a price on you," The man remarked as he began pulling her back the way they came sprinting from.

"oof" Hermione tried to escape as he turned around to grab his hat. She twirled and twisted her hands and yanked hard. She managed to get out of his grasp. She ran with all her might in a random direction.

But he was quick and he grabbed her baggy shirt by the inches and pulled hard. Her shirt collar suffocated her neck as she stumbled back on to the pavement, her legs still moving. He yanked her up and over his shoulder. The rope dug into her shoulders and the little space that her legs weren't tied, dangled awkwardly. She tried to push her legs apart to kick him in the chest, yet it was useless.

"Although I would've loved to have fun with you, the money matters more to me," He grunted as he adjusted her on his shoulder, and then continued to talk. "I guess I'll have to take you back to the stupid Podgy man,"

The man continued to taunt the girl as he walked through dark alleys, and back to the stall. There was still a small crowd around the fat stall owner as he continued to rant about his lack of business.

"Hey!" He called for the attention from the fat man.

" Here's the frickin girl you wanted!" The blonde man yelled as he tossed Hermione to the ground. "Now, Where's my reward?!"

The pudgy man stared at him for a second, and then remembered the reward that he had placed on the girl.

"Oh yes, oui, oui…." The man hmm'd for a while before finally finding a solution.

"Tell you what, Yesterday I heard that a young boy was looking for his runaway female cousin, and he said that he was sad and missing her. He described her as a brunette with brown muddy eyes and a current local thief"

The blonde man grasped the podgy man's hand and gave it a twist. The old man gave a whimper, and the blond man hissed "Get to the –fricking-point!"

"Alright, alright- just let go of my hand first... please," And His request was satisfied with a glare. "Now I'm pretty sure, this is her. Why don't you take her back home- which is around Clear Avenue, not far, mind you - and what reward you need will be fulfilled…"

The furious young blonde man growled and kicked Hermione in the chest out of frustration. Behind the men's commotion, Hermione's soft cry of pain was heard.

He turned around, back to the stall owner, "You're pretty sure?! Is that all!? I fucking chased this bitch all across town and now you're telling me to take her to some random man's house like a nice gentleman – and then _maybe _I could collect my money?"

His chest pumped up and down as he seethed.

"Yeah…" was the old man's reply

And in return,-

POW

-Was the young boy's response.

"Stupid man" He muttered as he rubbed his knuckles. "Who does he think he is?"

Then the boy looked down at the girl, "Now what am I going to do with you, and I still need my reward…"

With a thought to mind, he quickly hauled the desperate Hermione over his shoulder and dumped her in a trunk of an old pickup truck. Then he jammed his shoulder through the open window and opened the lock. Next he bent low and flicked his nail back and front to loosen the key hole case. After that he pulled out multiple wires and tried to rub them together. In a few minutes, he had the motor running and was driving towards Clear Avenue.

Hermione, in the back of the truck, twisted her hands over and over, trying to free them. She tried to wiggle her feet and jump or do anything to loosen her ties. She felt so helpless. How hard was it to escape, right? She crouched low and tried to bite on her leg ties, but it was still no use.

She knew that her capturer was taking her back to her cousin, looking for a reward. She wondered if Nathan would be even a little glad to see her come back. But she tried not to dwell on it; after all, he did hate her.

On the corner of the street were a group of boys drinking beers and dawdling around. There were a few portable chairs put up and many littered cans and bottles.

The blonde man stopped the truck a distance away from them. He opened his door and went back to get Hermione out. As soon as he opened the back door, Hermione rolled out with all her might. Her fear was greater than her logic. She was scared of Nathan and his friends.

Out of Desperation, she managed to loosen her leg ties as she rolled. Her rapid rolling eventually caused her to stumble right on the pavement. The sudden course had been quick, too quick for the blonde man to realize what was happening.

Hermione fell hard as her head pounded against the cold pavement. Her knees were scraped along the process as they were rubbed against the sharp metal of the car. She tried to ignore the pain and tried to get up and run from Nathan and his house.

Yet again, she was too slow and the blonde man hoisted her up from her shoulders. She struggled but that soon came to a stop as she was brought up to the house. She would not let Nathan know she was scared. So she tried to square her shoulders and look up as she was dragged towards Nathan.

"Is this Bitch yours?" The man behind her asked loudly as he pressed hard into her arms.

"Yeah, I'm responsible for this bitch. Why?" Nathan said as he walked forward with a beer in his hand and a cigar lit up in his mouth. His facial hair had grown due to lack of shaving but he still managed to look good.

Nathan reached out to grab Hermione but the young man pulled her back.

"Nah man, this ain't going to be that easy," He said as he held Hermione's hair tighter.

"I chased this bitch all over a town for a reward that was supposed to be given by a stall owner, but at the last minute he proclaimed that you would be the one giving me the reward."

"Yeah so?" Nathan replied back, cocky, with no care in the world for the little girl lying in front of his feet.

"-So, I want my fucking reward!" The man with the blonde locks yelled but then calmed himself down. "Look do you want her or not?"

Nathan seemed to think and then to Hermione's surprise, he replied, "Yeah I guess so"

"Then I need my money"

"But I ain't got no money for you…"

"Then you're not getting her back!" He said as he grabbed Hermione up from the floor, ready to take her back somewhere.

"What are you going to with her?" Nathan asked casually

"I don't know… Well actually there are a few cannibals who live up just north- I'll probably sell her to them" The man said it so serious, that no one thought he was bluffing.

Hermione began to desperately thrash, no longer caring about putting a façade in front of Nathan. Oh dear Merlin, please no… What had she ever done to receive this?

"Ahh that sucks doesn't it, Hermione?" Nathan said as he crushed the empty beer can on the floor.

Hermione stilled with her heart beat still drumming fast and hard. She slowly looked up at Nathan's face. The same face that looked so alike to her deceased Dad. -The same eyes, the same nose, and the same hair.

Oh Dad…, I'm going to be eaten because Nathan does not want to waste his money on me. Oh Dad, Help me….

She looked at Nathan hard, for a reason she did not know. But perhaps it was because a long time ago, as a little kid, she and Nathan had been friends.

Because a long time ago, Nathan used to stand up to her bullies and comfort her. Because a long time ago, he had promised to her Dad that he would always protect her. And maybe, because a long time ago, Nathan had never dared to hit her…

She begged silently for anyone up there someone to save her. Oh .. Oh , she didn't want to be eaten….

Please save me, she repeated over and over in her head.

"Oh look at her now, she's sad" Nathan laughed along with his group of friends. Hermione did not take her eyes from his face. She craned her neck higher. It somehow seemed right.

"Alright, wait up man." Nathan waved his hand at the blonde man.

"I can't afford to lose her either… How about another deal or perhaps," Nathan's eyebrows wiggled a little and he titled his hand towards Hermione, "-your reward in another form?"

The man stopped in his tracks and let go of Hermione's bounded arms as she hit the ground, once again. He looked down and once again, his eyes roamed over her form.

Oh God no, what form of twisted help was this. She had begged the lord to save her from her wrath. But only to be saved to die in other terms.

He turned around and faced Nathan, "Is she a Virgin?"

Hermione's eyes widened and she wanted to die. No please, Nathan. She prayed. She prayed harder than she had when she was a kid and her Bully had threatened to kill her.

Nathan shrugged and replied, "Wouldn't know and don't really give a fuck."

Hermione's capturer gave a slight groan of frustration and then bent down. In a single movement, he slightly lifted Hermione and pulled her baggy sweats down to her knees, in front of all.

Hermione gave a surprised jump and twisted in his grasp. Trying to hide what ever modesty was left. She had never felt so humiliated in her life. She shook her head rapidly left and right. She also kicked her legs trying to move away from the young man.

The man with the blonde locks looped his fingers through her thin knickers and pushed a finger in through her whole.

This was it. Hermione's persona broke and a tiny tear slithered down her cheek in mock triumph. She had vowed to herself after the death of her parents that she wouldn't ever cry.

Please. Please. Please. Please. Please.

Please what?

Oh please, I beg you – anyone- make it all stop.

Oh please, just make it stop.

I don't want this! I never asked for this!

Dear Merlin, it hurts.

No, No, Please…

Oh dear lord, Tell me what have I done?

I will do anything, I swear!

I swear, I swear by my heart that I will pay back all that I stole!

Please, don't do this…

The man stood back up, "Oh she's a virgin, alright," He wiped his hands on the sides of his pants. "Fine then, One day with her will do the deed."

"-and you won't be coming back asking for money later on, will ya?" Nathan asked as he walked back to grab another cigarette.

"No, not at all," The blonde man chuckled "Not when you could have a night with this blossoming beauty"

Nathan hunched down and grabbed Hermione's hair and yanked her up and threw her towards the other man.

Hermione squealed and kicked her legs. She tried to grab Nathan with her uninjured hand. The men, in the back, roared with laughter in their sunken drunk state.

"Here, she's all yours. There's a room in the back, just to the left.- and if you need help, my friends will be glad to aid you." Nathan pointed his thumb back at his friends, as he talked. Then he stopped and turned around, "-Just don't bother me or mention this to me ever again, alright?"

The blonde man who ran his thumb softly against Hermione's cheek shrugged, "Whatever" he commented.

At this point, through out all the commotion, Hermione had managed to loosen the rope that was tied and gagged to her mouth. She lifted the rope up using her mouth muscles.

"Nathan!" She screamed, panicking.

"Don't do this!" Yet Nathan continued on with a bottle in his hand.

"Please, Please, Please Nathan! Don't leave me alone with him!" She begged as she struggled to breathe.

"Nathan!"

It was becoming harder to breathe. Suddenly all the hatred for him was gone. It no longer mattered that he abused her and made her life miserable. It no longer mattered that because of him she was forced to run away, and starve at nights. It was just Nathan and that he was her only hope now.

But it wasn't just that, because her only hope was walking away…

She shook her head and it seemed that time was slowly freezing

Oh God, Oh someone out there…

The tears began leaking out. Each one squeezed out and shook before shivering down her cheeks. Her teeth bit deeper into her bottom lip, where a small cut was developing. Her hands, tried with all their might, to release his hands from her hair. Oh her scalp hurt. Ohh it hurt everywhere.

She gasped and tried to swallow all the oxygen that she could. She gasped again.

She had to do something…

She dug her heels deeper into the ground and stomped her heel harder on to the ground – trying to stop him from taking her away. She twisted her body and turned around, an attempt to twist the man's hands but that resulted in her twisting her own hands, so she turned back around. She then tried bouncing up and down while trying to pull her hands out of the rope. She shook her head back and forth but the man scrunched up his fingers and tightened his hold on her hair.

Her lips pursed as she tried to hold herself together. She took deep breaths and shivered as a cool breeze flew by. Her shirt ruffled and goose bumps grew on her pale but dirty skin.

She didn't want to give up, She really didn't want to.

She didn't want to fall without putting up a fight

But why was it then that she couldn't get herself to move.

No,

She tried to stand up but as he gripped her hair and dragged her back, her knees hit the pavement, hard.

"Stop it!"

"Get of me!" She tugged back but he gripped harder.

It was no use. She was weak from starvation and exhausted from being ill. Her chest wheezed as she breathed in again. She felt a piece of her hair rip off, as the man gripped another area to hold onto.

"Over here" One of Nathan's friends pointed to an old door. Hermione felt the grip on hair switch pressure as she was dragged towards the door's direction.

The young blonde man fumbled with the door knob as he used his non dominant hand to unlock the door. Then as soon as the old wood door opened, he shoved Hermione inside, and quickly shut the door behind him.

Hermione screamed and screamed and scrawled to the back of the room. She shook and yanked her arms repeatedly as a desperate attempt to release her hands from the knotted rope.

He quickly yanked her up and shoved her against the wall.

"Shut up" He hissed and tightened his hold on her shirt as he began to bite and lick her collar. His tongue felt dry, rough, and rubbery as it scratched her skin. She squeezed her throat and pushed herself further away from him.

She felt her knees go weak in fear and slumped to the ground. His hands let go of the shirt as the weight of her body fell down. He cursed and she hastily tried to crawl around his legs.

"Please, Don't!" She cried, but the man ignored her and in anger, He kicked the side of her chest. She moaned in agony and crawled into a ball at the middle of the floor.

"Get up, Bitch" He reeled his leg back and kicked her again.

"No, nooough-gh" She sobbed out as her body shook and whimpered. This pain was unfamiliar. This abuse was frightening.

Nathan's pain brought her misery and loneliness along with feelings of depression. The injuries were constant and it was painful, but it was pain, nothing more and nothing less. She had grown accustomed to it over the few months and it had become just that.

But this…This was torture. It was the agony of knowing there was something beyond it. No longer was it her injuries, loneliness, and suicidal thoughts, it was something monstrous. It was the fear. It was the fear of this man ripping her up and taking- no stealing- what little treasure she had left. It was the terror of being left broken and empty. It was the scary thought of knowing the aftermath.

In the next moment, she was yanked again and thrown on top the bed and there was a knife just above her neck. The blonde man gave a grin as he tightened his hold on her neck and kissed her cheek.

"Oh Honey, you're so sweet," The man trailed his lips lower "Irresistible," he bit the skin just below her neck, "unbelievable," he continued down, "and so Damn Gorgeous!" It was just with those that he yanked her button up shirt open.

Hermione screeched but was immediately shut up as the man slapped his fist on top of her mouth, "Shhh, there's no need to be shy,"

But Hermione shut her eyes and continued to roll around and jump from side to side. As she thrashed around, she managed to hit his chin with her shoulder. He cursed as his knife fell out of his grip.

"Bitch! Calm down!" The young man grabbed her shoulder blades and dug her deeper into the mattress.

"After all, I know you want me," The man licked her cheeks and rubbed her hair down. Hermione stilled to glare at him with disbelief.

"Never! I don't want you! I don't want you touching me or even looking at me, you disgusting pervert! I Hate you! Fuck you for all I Care!" Having enough of his musing, she screamed out her hatred.

SLAP

"Shut the Fuck Up," The man with a sudden new rage, grabbed her hands above with one hand while the other yanked her bra from her back.

"I was being gentle on you before, but none of that anymore," The man's rough hands pinched and grabbed her skin as Hermione continued to fight back. The blonde man grabbed a hold of her waist and then forcefully pushed her sweats along with her underwear down.

"No, Stop! Stop it!" Hermione screamed and yelled her protests.

"Skin so flawless…" The man whispered as his dagger trailed down the side of her body, just enough to draw a little of her blood.

"Now I can't have that," His hands reached up grasp and pull her breasts. His hands were rough and his tugs and pinches were strong. His nails dug into her skin and it began to hurt her numbed skin.

"I want to mark you," The man stated as he pulled the skin just beside her breast and under her arm, "How about here?"

Hermione stilled in fear and the man gave a laugh. He raised his arm up high and plunged it deep into her body and twisted the blade.

Her screams had not been enough to explain her pain as she had shook and withered underneath him...

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

**Flashback Ended**

"Hermione?"

"Hey, hey Hermione,"

"Hermione, you okay?" Harry moved his arms to Hermione's shoulders to give her a slight shake.

"You zoned out and then a few seconds later you began shaking and threw your bag to the floor." Ron explained as he peered into her eyes, frowning with mild concern.

Hermione looked down to see the contents of her bag spilt all over. She looked back up to see the Delacour family relatives staring at her.

"Oh Merlin, This is so embarrassing" she whispered as she covered her face with one hand and dropped on her knees to pick up her belongings.

"Accio Hermione's stuff," Ron whispered as he held open her bag for the things to come flying in.

"Did you forget you're a witch?"

"No…Thanks Ron"

"What's wrong? You're still shaking" Harry pointed out

Hermione turned around to glare at him, and tell him to shove off, but as soon as he saw her face, he figured it out.

"Oh no, not again…" Harry murmured.

"Let's go somewhere else," Ron led them out and far away from the guests.

"What was it this time?"

"It was back in Sixth year summer…" she shut her eyes and tried to forget.

"Do you mean when you were…raped?"

"Yeah..." She whispered her words out, making the word sound longer.

That night had been long and cruel as she had been forced to stay awake and aware of his every moment. He had taken pleasure and given pain in every form. It wasn't until sunrise, when Nathan had barged open the door and dragged the blonde man out of his property that her heart had finally calmed down a little.

But it had been no use, since the damage had already been done. She remembered faintly Nathan coming back and giving her a blanket to cover her up with. He had asked if she was alright. There had been no answer given, but she did remember herself curling into a ball and going into shock.

It hadn't been a week later that Nathan had grown sick of her depression and silence that he had sent her to the Burrow. Hermione had continued to be scared and frigid until one day, having enough, Ron and Harry had forced Hermione to come out her trance and tell them what had happened. Of Course, they had grown furious, but they too knew that they could do nothing and instead had settled down to helping her stand back up.

She still had nightmares, but they all did. The nights were cruel and often they huddled together, scared to fall asleep. The nights revealed what their sub-conscious predicted. And too many times they were very real. Their visions, their thoughts were painful. But their pain made their bond stronger.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

"Ronald Billius Weasley, What's taking you so long?! The chairs aren't going to set up by themselves, you know!" Molly yelled, flustered by the amount of stress due to the preparations of the wedding.

Hermione smiled slowly as Harry and she rolled their eyes together. Beside them, Ron grunted and picked himself off the floor.

"Okay, Okay, I'm coming!" Ron yelled back. "Who the bloody hell even invented weddings?!" Ron side mark was heard by Hermione and Harry.

Hermione's heart lifted as she saw a spark return in Harry's eyes. She didn't have the heart to remain silent. So she forced herself to break into laughter with Harry over Ron's stupid comment.

The wedding ceremony was about to begin in a couple of minutes and most of the guests had arrived. They had run short on the amount of chairs and Molly had been shouting for the past few minutes, trying to make the Wedding successful.

"Alright, well I'm done setting up the chairs in these rows," Hermione stated before she got up.

"Yeah I'm pretty much done too," Harry replied as he finished up screwing the back of a chair.

"Let's go and get a good spot up at the front. I mean, The Wedding's about to start." They both pushed through the crowd of Dealcours and Weasley's as they walked forward.

"Ladies and Gentleman, please take a seat. The Wedding is about to begin!" 's voice was heard and individuals began to take a seat.

"Hey! Ron!" Hermione yelled out his name and walked closer, as Harry followed behind. He sat slumped on one of the chairs.

"Hey," Ron replied, blowing a raspberry.

Bill walked up to the podium and stood there, standing proud and excited. He managed to look handsome, pulling of the scar as a trend.

"What's up?" Harry asked.

"Nothing…" He sighed and then he continued to stare at the podium. "Just can't believe Bill's getting married…"

Then he turned around to face his friends, "I mean, I can't believe we're growing up."

The music began to play and two little girls walked out with white baskets. They threw green leaves as they tried to walk slowly up to the podium.

"Yeah" Harry smiled, "I still remember Mione here with her buck teeth and the most horrible hair ever…"

"OI!" Hermione thumped Harry on his head.

"SHHHHHHHH!" The old woman from behind, glared at them. "Kids these days…" she muttered.

Harry grinned and apologized as Hermione looked down in embarrassment.

"No but seriously," Harry said as he leaned back on his seat. "We've struggled and fought the past six years… and this year we'll be going on the hunt…for Horcruxes." He whispered the last word.

Ron nodded, still in his pensive thoughts. It was still weird seeing him so serious at times.

Fleur's sister, Gabrielle walked in side by side with an unfamiliar brown haired man. The both smiled and gracefully continued on. Then Ginny walked in side by side with Charlie. After that a pretty black haired lady walked in side by side with another brown haired man. Last but not least, Fleur graced her presence with her dad who stood tall and young, beaming at the crowd.

"You know, you guys don't have to come… it's-"

Hermione managed to grab the scuff of Harry's collar and pulled him closer, "Don't" She hissed.

"Just Fuck Off, Harry…" Ron stared at Harry with a nonchalant gaze.

"Fine," He said as Hermione pried her fingers off and he leaned back. "But like I said, we're leaving a day after the wedding"

"Dumbledore left us this mission, and only us, -"

"-Yes, Harry we know. We can't tell the Order and the others." Hermione commented.

"Ye, well…." Harry drifted off into his own thoughts

They all watched as happy tears pricked at the corner of Fleur's eyes and Bill gave his biggest smile ever. The bride and groom both faced each other in their own thoughts, ignoring Kingsley's speech. They gave their hands a squeeze and continued to smile. And then finally came the vows and they turned their attention to Kingsley.

Yet Hermione continued to gaze and slowly lost herself in her own thoughts. She thought about the mission and what they were risking. Then she thought about the book, Dumbledore had left her.

Dumbledore….

Albus Welfrick Dumbledore, the man who had hid her parent's death from her, just for the 'greater good'.

She sighed.

And then there was a flash of a memory of her parents. Happy faces and warm hands. Everything was so yellow and bright. She closed her eyes and breathed in slowly.

Albus Welfrick Dumbledore, who in the end also sacrificed his life just for the 'greater good'.

Bright blue twinkling eyes and white beard so long and pure that it glowed. And purple robes with shining stars along with a matching hat, a brown tiny hookah in his hands. His presence so pleasant that it made one believe great things. A man so kind and comforting.

-That was her image of him as a third year.

Then came the anger and betrayal. He no longer was a shining legend that made her excited, just to be in his presence. It only got worse when she began to read about Dumbledore's past with his acquaintances. She discovered the past with Grindelward and Ariana Dumbledore. She had begun to believe the rumours and hating lies of Dumbledore. He became a loon, someone incapable of leading Hogwarts. He had become an annoyance.

And then he had died.

She had sat there, pondering over his words and speeches, after his funeral. The rain had poured and the fresh soil under her knees had softened and moistened. She had remembered the advice and soothing words he had given to her, to all his students. And even at the last, he had died protecting his students.

Oh God

Oh this cruel world.

How sad to think that our words mean gold after we're gone and old.

She had finally figured the great Dumbledore out.

He was human.

And at that prospect, Hermione had cried.

She had remained there, tracing his name and muttering apologies.

Albus Welfrick Dumbledore had been human. He had made mistakes and learned from them. His mistakes had been his strength, his fuel for his wisdom. He had grieved, acted recklessly, lost, killed, but then he has also gotten up and paid for his mistakes. He had paid for them with his life.

So Hermione, right there, had vowed to Dumbledore in his grave that she would continue on his legacy. She would spread his words and live by them. She would take her own pain and transform it into strength, just like he had.

Hermione smiled, a real smile in a long time, and leaned back in her chair, and looked up. The sun was bright and comforting; it gleamed into her closed eyes. It reminded her of her own headmaster.

Her smile transformed into a toothy grin because this time she had and would always remember him as the man with Bright blue twinkling eyes and white beard so long and pure that it glowed.

Behind her, cheers erupted as the bride and groom kissed. Ron and Harry jumped up to give a hoot. It was a happy moment. Hermione too got up and clapped. She felt confident, because tomorrow she would be going on Dumbledore's mission. And that made her even more enlightened.

Because in the end, Albus Wlefirck Dumbledore had been a great man, indeed.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

"Oh my baby! He's finally all grown up! Oh my baby!" Molly's cries were heard as Bill blushed a bright shade of red that matched his hair. Fleur grinned and pinched Bill's cheeks to give emphasize to Molly's words.

"Mum!" Bill half-heartedly hissed

"Oh but Bill," Molly said while hugging Bill again, "I just can't believe it!"

"Mom, Give it a rest already. Jeesh" Charlie, taking pity on his brother, tried to console his mum. Fluer rolled her eyes.

"It iz oqay mz. Visley, ve vill visith ull da dime" Fleur patted molly on her back.

But Molly cried, with tears of happiness and sadness, mixed together to create and emotion spillover.

"Yes, yes I know," Molly murmured "But it's a mom thing, you guys won't understand…" At this, Molly cried and hugged Bill again.

"Fine, I'll handle this" Ginny said as Charlie poked her the third time, encouraging her to go deal with their mom's scene.

Ginny picked up her skirts and walked towards her mom with napkins and a glass of water. Ginny's light orange hair that had been done in curls, bounced in spirit and contrasted well with her mint green dress.

The Golden trio watched the scene from far, as they sat on their table munching on appetizers.

"Wow, Mum's sure a mess" Ron stated

"Ron, don't be so rude," Hermione spoke up but once she saw the scene she hummed out her agreement too.

"Lets' go congratulate the new married couple" Harry said as he stood up.

"Now!?" Ron said as he looked at his mum crying with fright.

"Oh come on, Ron" Hermione grabbed Ron's hand and pulled him forward.

Fleur smiled as she spotted the Golden trio making their way towards her. She waved, glad for a distraction.

"'Ermione! Thu look Qorjeouz!" Hermione tilted her head and hugged Fleur, not having the heart to let out a fake smile, just for the sake that they had become friends over the past few days.

"Ahh but I could never outshine the French bride," Hermione commented and gave her congratulations.

"So Ron, when are you finally going to get yourself a girlfriend?" Bill gave a toothy smile as he slung his arm around his little brother.

Unlike other times, Ron didn't blush and turn red, instead he smiled back, "Well I wouldn't wanna disappoint all the other girls who are pining after me, now would I?"

Bill gave a bark of laughter and slapped Ron on his back but Hermione stared at Ron in pride. Ron had finally given up on surpassing his brothers and had accepted himself.

"Congratulations, Bill!" Ginny's voice was heard from behind as they turned around to face her. Bill laughed and gathered Ginny up in his arms.

"Oof! Bill! You're ruining my hair!" Ginny squealed

"oh Wow, look at you Ginny!" Bill said happily, "My little sister is all grown up!"

Ginny blushed a deep red and slapped Bill's arm lightly, "oh Stop! I mean you guys looked beautiful up there!"

" Dhanks, Jhinny" Fleur replied as she wrapped her arm around Bill arm, feeling left out of Ginny's congratulations.

Hermione, up close, noticed how magnificent and expensive Ginny's gown looked. It was a mint green with gold and silver jewels sewed into the seam lines. And the material seemed to be velvet. And then she also noticed the accessories Ginny wore. The giant diamond necklace gleamed in the bright light and neither did her flashing bracelets go unnoticed. The quality of it all seemed too authentic to be created by magic, itself.

Hermione, although trying not to be judgemental, wondered how the hell Ginny had bought all that. Molly Weasley, herself was wearing a simple old summer dress and the Weasley boys were wearing their old dress robes, suffice Bill, not having enough money to afford. She had even overheard Molly apologizing the other day to Ginny about how she would not be able to buy a new dress for her.

Her heart thumped in fear as she tried to not let out a surprised gasp at her own fearful conclusions. No Ginny, please don't tell me…

Her mind tried to distract her from the worse. She just couldn't imagine Ginny sinking low to earn money.

"Yes, Ginny you do look beautiful!" Hermione commented, the clocks twisting in her mind.

Ginny looked suspicious at Hermione's comment, especially since they had not been as close recently, "Thanks, you too"

"May I ask where you bought this beautiful dress along with the amazing jewellery from?"

Ginny, happy to show off, smiled and started chattering away, "Why Hermione, I must tell you that when I saw this dress, I fell in love with it. It was gorgeous just standing there in the shop-"

So she had bought it, Hermione thought as she kept listening. Her heart beat fastened as Ginny began proving Hermione's conclusions.

"- And I asked Madame Huy to customize it a little, after all it was for my brother's wedding-"

Madame Huz? The one and only awarded designer of the year, someone so popular that her name did not go unnoticed by someone even like her. But how? How did Ginny afford all that?

"-So Molly must have been elated to meet Madame Huz. Did she also buy her dress from that shop too then, Ginny?" Hermione cut in, trying to get Ginny to spill. Although she didn't want to be nosy, her gut instincts told her something wasn't right -That Ginny was hiding something.

"No, mum didn't buy me this dress, Hermione" Ginny said, standing taller with pride, "I bought this myself!"

Everyone else was in their own little conversation, laughing happily, the war topic forgotten apparently. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Harry shoving Ron away as he tried to sneak his spring roll away. Fred and George who had given up on trying to cheer up their mother, were now absolutely drunk and singing.

"But how Ginny? Where did you get all this money from?" Hermione asked, "Over the past few months, I along with you family have been working our asses of trying to pay the rent for _your _house, so pray tell me, where did you get all this money?" Her anger starting to sneak out of her low whispered but fast tone.

Ginny's mouth shut up immediately as she realized her mistake of letting out too much. And then as soon as hearing Hermione's words, guilt began to spread out on her face.

"I-I-I have been working…" Ginny spluttered out her answer.

"Oh Ginny, I'm not trying to be nosy or offensive, it's just that I am worried about you…" Hermione put her hand on Ginny's arm, "I'm happy that you managed to get a job though, I mean it must be a great job seeing that you bought this dress with that money…"

Ginny shrugged off Hermione's arm and looked down, her magically curled hair falling as a curtain. And then she suddenly looked up with anger, "You have to ruin everything don't you?!"

Her hand came out to point a finger at her, "You stole Harry away from and then my family too, and now today when I was having such a great day, you ruined it!"

Ginny turned around and scoffed, "Just stay away from me, Granger."

The short ginger walked away leaving Hermione behind, confused and guilty. However that did not take away Hermione's anger at Ginny's selfishness. Hermione spent hours working at a stupid wizard pub, being harassed daily, just to help the Weasleys and her friends, when Ginny had enough money to help her family stand on their feet again.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

"What was that with you and Ginny back there, an hour ago?" Ron asked as he came up with two drinks in his hands.

"You saw that?" Hermione questioned as she sat on a bench with her hands cupping her face.

"Yeah… So?" Ron said, probing for an answer

"I don't even know…' Hermione muttered before turning around to face Ron, "Did you know Ginny got a job?" Hermione asked

"uhh no…. But that's great!"

"Yeah isn't it? Especially when her job's paying her enough to buy a twenty galleon dress."

Ron's suspicious and confused expression came to replace his previous face, "What? But how?!" His suspicion was no surprise, the Weasleys and she along with Harry barely made a pay of about few Knuts or Sickles every day - and that was only when they were in luck.

"Whatcha guys all doing?" Harry asked as he came up grinning

"Ginny's being paid Galleons," Ron stated with a frown on his face

"Oh' Harry stopped, "But isn't that a good thing?"

"It is but it's just the thought of how she's earning it…" Ron explained

Harry nodded, understanding all too well. The Wizard society, after the return of the Dark lord had stopped hiring muggle borns and blood traitors, afraid for their own safety. That had left them with very few job opportunities and low paying wages.

"I hope she'll be fine" Ron sighed as he gave Hermione the other drink in his hand. Hermione's hand came upon Ron's shoulder and gave it a little squeeze,

"Don't worry, No one messes with a Weasley and gets away with it, right?" Hermione commented, remembering Ron saying that himself, not too long ago.

"Right." Ron smiled and brought Hermione closer to him and hugged her, suddenly remembering there was a war outside there and that people were going to die.

"Yeah Ron, Nothing's going to happen, Not while the Chosen one is here" Harry put his arm around his best friends and smiled weakly at his cheesy comment.

Hermione gave Harry a look. "Oh, Harry that was bad"

"Shut up" He muttered as he messed up Hermione's hair.

"Mate, you're turning into a girl" Ron spoke behind them, grinning

"Oi" Hermione scowled, offended by his comment

Both boys ignored her as Harry chucked Ron's head for his comment. This resulted in Ron chucking Harry's head back. They both continued on hitting each other's head.

Hermione grabbed two plates of cake and squashed them on their heads, just before both they're hands came into contact with the others.

"Oi"

"-Oi"

Both boys scowled as their hands came into contact with squished cake. Hermione broke into real beautiful laughter as she used a chair to hold her up.

But not too soon, she had two pieces of cake squished on her own head. That broke out of her own laughter as she began to scowl.

"That's not fair!" Hermione said frowning at the cake falling on her red dress.

"Shut up 'Mione" Ron said while rolling on the ground with deep chuckles.

"Mione, you look horrible…" Harry commented just before he saw a pigeon land on Hermione's shoulder and pick on the cake in her hair, and broke into another round of laughter.

Hermione's scowl became deeper as she too saw the pigeon on her shoulder, "Shoo, Shoo!" She demanded

The pigeon, now scared flew away only to land on Harry's chest and pick on his hair. Noting this, Hermione gave up on her anger and howled into another round of beautiful laughter at Harry's fearful expression.

"What Mate? You scared of a Pigeon?" Ron snickered

"You think this is funny?' Harry frowned with furrowed brows.

"Yes" Hermione nodded with a mischievous smile, - a real smile.

"Well I'll show you what's funny!" Harry smiled back as he got up, scaring the pigeon away from his too, and running towards his best friend.

Using his wand, he cast a spell to cause a jet of water stream to shoot at Hermione. Hermione, quickly cast a shield in front of her but the damage was done as she was soaking wet.

"Mate, you made me wet too." Ron said with a grunt.

"Shove off Ron, at least your clothes aren't ruined" Hermione said between her laughter.

"Shut up 'Mione" Ron said as he cast another spell and something pink and liquid was covering Harry.

"Now that suits you, Harietta!" Ron smiled as Harry scowled at the feminine version of his name. But soon enough, both Ron and Hermione were covered in Green coloured liquid as Harry felt content on his revenge.

"Avis" Hermione swished using her own special spell and both boys yelped as birds started biting them.

"Now that's my revenge for both of you guys throwing cake at me' Hermione said with a smirk.

"Too bad It won't last long" Harry said as he ran towards Hermione, causing the birds to follow. Ron, catching up with Harry's plan, ran after him, thus causing the birds to follow him too.

"Oh no" Hermione realizing what they had planned, picked up her skirts and sprinted ahead. It was a quite a ruckus they were causing as the trio chased each other.

Soon enough, her dress caught in one of the chairs and she was pulled back. This gave both boys the chance to catch up and Hermione was surrounded by birds too, trying to bite her.

"oof! Bloody Hell Mione, these birds bite hard – ouch" Ron grunted as he dodged a bird.

"Well if you guys hadn't attacked me, I wouldn't have dropped my wand, and we wouldn't be facing this problem as I can vanish them with a spell."

"Well then tell us the spell!" Harry said as he pushed away a bird.

"Its Avepro with a high swish"

Ron tried doing the spell but instead he multiplied the amount of birds. Hermione huffed, "Nice going, Ron" she grabbed Ron's wand and at her second attempt, the birds were gone.

"Phew, Finally" Harry smiled at the lack of the birds.

"Yeah"

The Golden Trio waited a moment, catching their breath, and then looked at each other, and broke into guffaws laughter.

"You should have seen you face, Ron" Harry pointed at his best mate.

"Me?! I think your fear of that pigeon caused these birds to act more vicious than usual!" Ron replied back through laughter. And then they both looked at Hermione, and broke into another round of laughter.

"Hermione, you look hideous!" Ron roared out

"Excuse me?!" The girl with dark curls scowled. But true to their word, she was in a mess. Her hair was splattered with cake and her dress was soaked and torn.

"Scourigify!" Harry stated as Hermione was quickly cleaned up with a spell but her dress remained torn from the side.

"Hey, leave her alone!" Harry smiled with a sparkle in his eyes, as he puffed out his chest and stood in front of her.

"Oh please," Hermione rolled her eyes and shoved Harry away from and stepped out front,

"Hey leave me alone!" She too puffed out her chest to emphasize her strength however it only made her look ridiculous.

Both boys broke into laughter again and Hermione, once realizing how stupid she looked, also began to laugh.

She was so happy and she beamed at her best friends, her brothers. The war, the abuse, the rape, the pain, the loss – They were truly all forgotten at this moment. She felt as she was floating up high in the air and twirling around in simple mirth.

She continued to laugh, gasping, but too glad to stop. It was so long that this laughter had been contained, and she just didn't want to stop. She ignored the pain in her stomach and let her mouth open wide to release all her restrained happiness.

She began to realize what these boys really meant to her. They were her life. They were her inspiration and the source behind her urge to grow stronger. She had finally found her answer. She had finally realized why she forced herself to wake up every day. – It was for these boys.

As they slowly came out of their laughter, Hermione took three cups of drink from a table and passed it to her best friends.

"To the Golden trio's happiness" She said as she raised the cup up

"To our memories made and the future to come!" Ron raised his cup too

"And to the victory of this war!" Harry exclaimed as all three of them touched their cups together

"Amen" They all said together and smiled at that fact.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

It was almost morning, as the Trio lay on the cool grass, tired and exhausted but watching as the drunk Weasley twins entertained the newly Married Couple with tricks.

Molly too, for once remained silent at the immaturity of her sons as she watched from a conjured up sofa. The sofa was filled with the rest of the Weasleys which included Ginny, Charlie, Mr and Mrs. Weasley with the exception of only Percy.

The rest of the Order sat too, on conjured chairs or benches, all comfortable and happy at the end of the day. Remus and Tonks cuddled as they had officially declared themselves as a couple, last week with an engagement ring.

Moody and Kingsley watched from a far as they guarded the property, but they too seemed content. The Hogwarts Professors suffice Snape, also sat on a bench as they talked with excited chatter. It all seemed well.

Ron's hair fanned out behind him, interlacing with Hermione's long locks as Harry's curl's twisted around another of Hermione's. They all lay on their back with their heads together but legs fanned out, creating a star.

"oof" Hermione said as she tried to turn to get into a comfortable position but was yanked back with her hair.

"Why did you guys have to go ahead and let you hair grow?" She tried to get up again but was pulled down by Ron's arm as he felt the tug on his hair too, "- and now my hair is entangled with both of yours." Hermione scowled

"Well you could go ahead shave of you hair, and then our hair would get tangled less often" Harry suggested

Hermione, still lying on the ground on her back, shoved a hand back without seeing, as an attempt to free her curly hair.

"Oi!" Harry yelled, "That was my eye, Hermione!"

"Oops, my bad Harry" This time Hermione shoved her hand the other way, trying to aim for a head.

"Bloody Hell!" Ron scowed, "_that _was _my _eye!"

"Sorry!"

Harry grunted as he sat up, rubbing his eye trying to get the sting out, momentarily forgetting about the tangled hair.

"OI!"

"-The Hell?!"

The two thirds of the trio winced as they were dragged up too and now were glaring at each other, with untangled and messy hair this time.

"Was that really necessary, Harry?" Hermione asked rubbing her

" Sorry, My bad" Harry

"S'alright"

"Hermione, you've got long nails," Ron complained I think my eye is bleeding…"

"Oh Ron, remind me to cut them tomorrow…"

"You guys, Shut up!" Harry hissed

"You shut up!" Ron replied back

"No, really shut up, shut up!" Harry tried to explain.

"-What?" Ron asked confused

"-Both of you shut up!" Hermione exclaimed

"No both of you shut up!" Ron replied back.

Both Hermione and Harry ignored Ron this time as they got up and stared at a figure.

"What's wrong?" Ron asked as he too got up, "Is that Moody waving his hands?"

"Yeah…"

"You think he's warning us about something?" Harry questioned as all of them began to walk towards Moody.

"Let's go" Hermione said, worried as she began to run. Months of running in the streets had made her a great sprinter.

Just as they reached Moody, a loud heart breaking scream was heard.

They all stopped, their hearts beating loud.

"What was that?" Hermione whispered, thinking it was her imagination.

"Do you think…." Ron said leaving the question hanging in the air.

"-No" Harry said firmly but his words came out too soon as they heard a shout.

"-POTTER, ALERT THE OTHERS AND GET OUT OF HERE!" they were close enough to hear Moody's voice this time.

"IT'S AN ATTACK!" Kingsley shouted this time, "RUN!"

Boom

Boom

Boom

All three of them looked back as they saw black shadows jumping in through the wards with fire explosions. The lawn was catching fire and there was an army forming on the front.

Hermione, thinking quickly, yelled "Expecto Patronum"

Neither was surprised to see a dark Thestral come out of the white fog and fly its way to the caller.

"There's been an attack by the death eaters, near the Emmely park" Hermione quickly whispered pointing it to the Professor's bench.

Harry and Ron quickly followed and cast the Patronus charm. Out came a phoenix out of Harry's wand and a Bull out of Ron's wand. Both of them pointed to other direction, spreading the word quick.

"Incarnous" Hermione yelled up as a rookie death eater was tied up quickly. She ran ahead, trying to help Moody and Kingsley, with Harry and Ron following suit.

"Stupefy!"

"Protego!"

"Diffindo!"

"Expeilliarmus!"

Noticing another Death Eater entering his way through the wards she quickly cast a jinx at him and the black clothed one's limbs fell numb. Her eyes scanned the field as she looked for Harry, worried if the Death Eaters had gotten Harry.

She saw him, duelling with two Death Eaters and Ron right beside. But what confused her so was that fact that the Death Eaters were ignoring Harry but instead coming towards her.

"Oof!" Her breath was knocked out as she received a kick from her back. She mentally punched herself for leaving herself unguarded.

Then there was someone holding her up by the front of the blazer. Not waiting for the Death Eater to cast a spell, she used her legs to kick the person in the shin and screamed, "Expeillarmus!"

"Reducto!"

"FiendFyre!

"Protego!

"UltimiProtego!"

. Hermione knew this was a losing battle. There were only five of them protecting the wards and just too many Death Eaters. She had to get Harry out of here. If he were to be captured, then the battle would be lost before it had even begun. This just wasn't the time to play the heroes.

However she worried leaving Kingsley and Moody behind. Calculating a plan, she ran towards her best friends, dodging spells and curses.

Harry needed to leave this battlefield and Ron had completed his Apparition exam and could help Harry. All thoughts about her own safety left her mind. All that mattered was for those two to stay alive. They were all she had, the remaining of her own identity. She had to get them out and to safety.

At the back of her mind, she knew that one day Harry would really have to face Voldemorte. But not now, her fearful mind whispered. This just wasn't the battle – not when they were losing.

"Harry, here take my bag!" She frantically stated under the protection of a Protego bubble. She grabbed Ron's hand and put it on Harry's before taking of her earring as fast as she could.

"I'll meet you there in a few and if I don't…. Then Good Luck Harry!" She said, panicking the bubble would dissolve any minute and the surrounding death Eaters would get their shot.

"Hermione, No!" Harry yelled as he began to tug his hand back

"Stop-"

But it was too late as she had dropped the earring in their hands, and soon there was a huge gushing wind as they were port keyed away to Muggle London.

She let out a heavy sigh just before the bubble popped. She was glad, that those two would be safe at least for now. She quickly cast another Protection spell, before all the spells reached her. Then she began dueling.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

All that practice and the reading she had done at late hours in her bed room were finally paying off. Out came her vast knowledge of jinxes and hexes along with her revised skill.

Moody and Kingsley came towards her and they stood together as they shot curses and cast protection spells or dodged. But more kept coming.

"We need back up!" Kingsley yelled

"Granger, spell a Patronus again, I'll back you up!" Moody yelled

Hermione nodded and quickly thought of Harry and Ron, and out came Thestral. She screamed out her message in quick words, as she saw a purple jinx being sent her way and ducked.

"Oof" Kingsley grunted as his leg was cut by a Dffindo and out came blood, soaking through his robes. He fell to his knees, as the pain shot up through his body.

"Episkey!" Hermione whispered at Kingsley, momentarily forgetting her own battle. As soon as she turned her head, a jinx was sent her way and she was thrown metres away from her comrades.

She grunted as her head met the ground and throbbed. She tried to get up and gather her senses while clutching her wand tight. However she was shot down again and rope wrapped around her small frame.

"Well, look who we have here…" The familiar voice of Vincent Crabbe senior, from fifth year, stopped her momentarily in the process of getting up.

He crouched down low and grabbed her chin with his long, rough finger padded fingers. His eyes gazed at her through the holes of his mask. His eyes were wicked and evil, causing the birds to fly away and people to turn their heads away from him.

"Why you look just like you mother, little one" He murmured and let go of her chin as she jerked her head sideways. A sick feeling went down, all the way to her stomach. She felt as if her body was no longer hers to control, as if she had been used to much to be use to her own self any more.

"Let go of me, you bastard!" Anger rushed out at the thought of a vile Death Eater talking about her mother. Her mother had been a beautiful and sweet woman whom had cherished her husband and child, dearly. She had been a role model for the world.

SLAP

Hermione felt her cheek sting with the heavy impact of his hand.

"Young ladies like you will not talk in such a manner" The man scolded her

She glared at the man with pure anger and confusion. How dare he? How dare he insult her mother and then scold her on her manners. He had no right.

With every amount of energy she could muster in her tired state, she pushed her lower back up and kicked the man in the face with her foot. And she quickly rolled to the side, still tied up, as the Death Eater responded back to her violence.

"Come back here, bitch!" He roared, with frightening eyes and a tight scowl.

Her heart thumped over and over frantically as she wrestled with her turmoil. The fear coming back in pieces of flash backs. Each memory a cruicouatous curse itself. Matthew, her crush from fourth grade, slamming her head against the fence, Nathan using a lighter to burn the tips of her fingers as she struggle to get away, Men from the bar with their scrawny fingers touching her… and that – that man, no monster from sixth year who had- had torn, ripped, and shredded her dignity in the matters of one night.

Vincent Crabbe, rushed after her rolling desperate form, grabbed her from her legs and dragged her back. His kick came hard on the side of her ribs and her breath was knocked out for a moment as she gasped as much as oxygen in she could. He was there again, attacking her with kicks over and over again as she lay on his feet.

She felt a chill go down her spine as she realized that this was probably her fate, to be beaten down and down every single time. The wind circled around her face, causing wisps of her hair to blow in her mouth, and she tugged her hands back over and over. But the magical ropes were impossible to get out of and she wanted to scream at her weakness.

Then she felt it, his disgusting fingers yank at the tendrils of her hair and pull her face up. Something inside her snapped as her mind went into shock at the prospect of the incident in sixth year, repeating again. Her body acted on her own and she went crazy, scared to death.

"NOOOO!"

"NOOOOO!"

"NOOOOOOOOOO"

"STTTTOOOOOPPP, DON'T TOUCCH ME!"

Her blood-curling screams ran through the chaos of the battlefield. The dark brunette lay on the ground, her body twisted as she screamed out her fear like a mad woman.

Her voice was raw and raspy yet screeching as she yelled out her heart in fear. Vincent Crabbe senior, took a step back hesitantly, in slight shock over the girl's screams. Surrounding Death Eaters looked around, bewildered by the blood curling screams.

The mad woman on the ground pounded her fists and kicked her legs at an invisible force. Her body kept twisting and her eyes remained wide open, unblinking. All she could think about the feeling of something touching her and groping her

"Finite Incantatem!" In a moment, the ropes binding Hermione were uncurled and vanished.

"Hey Hermione, you alright there?" Tonks voice fluttered through her ears as her senses finally took aware of their surroundings. – The back up had arrived…

Her fingers opened and let the brown and moist soil from the earth to finally leave her hands. Closing her eyes, she let her weakness register in her mind. She panted and breathed fast and slowly shook in disgust. When would this pain finally end?

"Stupefy"

"Protego"

"Imperio!"

"Protego"

Her mind began to register the surrounding voices and the duel occurring between Tonks and Vincent Crabbe Senior.

She slowly brought her knees up; ignoring the pain it brought along. She had to do this. She had to fight her fear. She needed to start standing up to her bullies and protect herself.

An image of Ron and Harry submerged into her mind, reminding of her why she was here. She gripped at the image, sourcing it for her strength. She forced herself to stand, ignoring the wheezing and incredible pain in her chest. Then, all to sudden there was a shove and she fell to the floor again.

She coughed, blood spurting out.

No…

She whispered, recognizing the signs of weakness.

She had to do this. This just wasn't standing up. It was facing all her past bullies and being there for Harry and Ron. It was standing up to people who took everything away from her.

The thought of never seeing Harry and Ron, shook her, and she refused to let her mind think about that anymore. So with all her might, she tried standing up. She moved her legs and tried to push. But her chest contrasted in pain and all of a sudden she fell again.

"Come on, Granger! This is no time to go around dying on us!" She heard Moody's screaming at her.

How could she tell him that standing up seemed almost impossible? She just couldn't manage to move her chest at all, and her breathing was starting to slow down.

"Ahhhhhh!"

There was a red light and Tonks was blasted to the ground, unconscious.

"Tonks!" The sound of Remus's voice was heard as he ran, ignoring the battles surrounding him.

Hermione stared at the pretty and unconscious witch that lay beside her. She stared at her fallen comrade, the one who had saved her from Vincent Crabbe Senoir.

"My luck seems to be real good today, don't you think Miss Granger?" His voice was rough and he was slightly panting from his recent duel.

Hermione looked at the thick black combat boots in front of her and then she looked up. She saw him viewing Remus and Tonks and she silently shuddered as she imagined the cruel things he could be thinking of right now.

Looking back down and curling her head, she shoved her knees straight and put force on her heels. She was going to get up. No more. No one else was going to die for her.

She slowly stood up, still staring at Remus and Tonks and knowing all too well the senior Crabbe was laughing at her façade. She ignored him, she had too.

"I won't let you do this!" She said, facing the Senior Crabbe. Although she was injured, she could also see that he seemed to be hurt too.

"And you think you can stop me?" He asked with a mocking tone.

"I'm going to kill you, Crabbe" She hissed and the amusement disappeared from his face, only to be replaced with an angry sneer.

"Well then, I see this how it is going to be," He muttered, and then he turned around quickly to face the fallen couple, with his wand still up.

Her heart throbbed and the little voice inside her head screamed. She saw the little muscle beside Crabbe's mouth twitch as his eyebrows furrowed in pure anger. She knew what was coming before he even moved.

It all happened too slow but so quick, that she was unable to process anything.

She saw him open his mouth to form the spell words. His lips moved up and down as his wand slowly rotated in a circle.

Her feet forced themselves to move. She was running towards him, screaming something.

Boom

In the distance, she could hear people screaming and air turning colder. She silently wondered why as she continued to run, with her heart beating.

Boom

Boom

Boom

And an explosion

Death Eater's stopped their battle, momentarily, to observe their leader enter the battlefield.

And then the slowness stopped.

Thousands of Death Eaters rounded on each Order member, attacking fiercely.

Green light came out Vincent Crabbe's wand.

Remus yelled, realizing a little too late where the curse was directed. He grabbed Tonks in his lap, shielding her.

And Hermione cried, one last time as she jumped up with all her might.

She saw it, the light speeding towards her. The bright green blinded her vision as it sparkled with vengeance. The buzzing voice seemed to be getting louder and louder and her heart stopped.

"ULTIMA DRAGONA!"

BBBBOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!

Red met Green. People screamed. The ground shook.

Swings, Sleds, Benches, Buildings, and People all went flying as the air vibrated with the impact of powerful magic.

Silence….

And then there were screams of pain as people began to register their injuries.

She slowly registered the great big red shield in front of her.

Impossible.

That was all Hermione could think off.

It was impossible to survive the killing curse, suffice Harry who had another sacrifice made for him so that he could be saved.

But there was no sacrifice here….

How?

"Incarnous"

Thick ropes full of magic wrapped around Hermione's body as she painfully realized that she had been caught again.

"Hermione!" Remus yelled from behind her.

He got up to reach his wand and undo the curse. But he was soon blasted away by an invisible force.

She quickly looked around, surveying for the reason behind Remus's attack. She hadn't heard any spell.

And then there was the cold.

Thin ice formed on the summer grass as she shivered.

Where was the cold coming from?

She struggled, confused and worried.

Then she stopped, her ropes now frozen too.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Her heart began beating faster again and plunged deep down in her stomach.

She heard thuds and low sounds of foot steps, ice crunching underneath them.

She slowly looked up, almost unsure of what or whom she was about to witness.

Finally, her eyes traveled up the really tall figure, black dragonhide boots, black goblin velvet cloak, and finally the black hood that surrounded a pale white face.

Managing to stop her teeth from cluttering, she yelled. "Let me go!"

A hand shot out and grabbed her tied wrist. His grip was tight and her wrist bones barely managed not to be crushed.

He dragged her tied up body along the ground, behind him.

"Stop!" She yelled, wondering if this man would even listen to her.

She silently selfishly wondered why no one else was interfering. Where were all of them? She could barely see anything through the thick fog.

"You fucking bastard, let me go!" She yelled in anger, her outburst reminding her of Ron. Internally she smiled at that thought.

However, her courage was cut short as she was grabbed by her collar and pulled up – now at the same level of her capturer.

She managed a glare before she was shook furiously and thrown on the floor.

She dropped to the ground, landing on her face.

"Shut up." The low voice of a male hissed. "You will do as I Say, understood?"

Lying on the ground, she shook, furious at the stranger.

No. She was done with other ordering her around. She had had enough of people forcing her around out of fear.

"No" She spat

She heard feet shuffle and then

"Friendfyre"

It started off with her lower body, her toes burning and flesh rotting away. Her shoes burnt into ashes and her rotting feet were revealed.

The pain.

The agony.

It was too much to describe.

She was rendered speechless, no screams coming out of her mouth as her back arched up due to pain.

"Finite" His voice whispered.

The fire stopped but the pain remained. Her head throbbed.

He grabbed her wrist again, twisting it and dragging her across the field again.

"What do you want from me?" She murmured behind him, breathless from the pain.

Her eyes closed briefly thinking of Harry and Ron. What were they doing right now? She muttered a quick prayer to an unknown source for them.

"Who are you?" She questioned him, quietly, her breath coming in short gasps.

Was her wrist broken? She felt her arm below the elbow go numb.

He ignored her, dragging her faster.

She closed her eyes, pleading for her brain to work. She didn't want to leave Harry and Ron alone. She wanted to stay with them, win the war.

She had so much to see, she didn't want to die.

She wanted to see Harry's face when he won the war. She wanted to witness Ron's happiness as he avenged his father.

But most of all she wanted to see their bright future. She thought as she pushed her hope.

She closed her eyes, trying to calm her breathing. She could do this. She was the brightest witch of this age. – A broken one at that, she reminded herself.

No…

Think. Think. Think.

She groaned slightly as she was slammed to the ground again, pain going up her body. With hazy eyes, she observed the tall man; he was muttering something – a curse.

She bit her lip, to prevent her gasp as her chest cramped up.

Pain. Pain. Pain.

Fire.

And then the thought came to her. When she had been cursed, the ropes around her feet had been destroyed.

She didn't know whether to be happy or worried as she thought about the pain that she was about to endure. She sighed and closed her eyes, trying to imagine another world, before beginning her plan.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

With whirling wind, she and the man were sucked into a hole and thrown into a different location.

She hit a long pole as she fell, still bound by the ropes. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him land perfectly.

She looked around and saw tall dark walls surrounding her everywhere, except for the front as there were bars. She realized she was in a cell.

She breathed through her nose, too accustomed to breathing through her mouth.

"You, Bastard!" He ignored her for a moment

"Don't test me, bitch' He answered back, finally

"You Disgust me, unwilling to fight fairly!" She yelled back, trying to trigger that curse again. She needed that fire.

"What you should be disgusted about is the fluid that runs through your veins"

No… She would not let him insult her family.

"Fuck you! Fuck you and your deranged parents." She panted out lame insults due to the anger that clouded her mind,

"Just go Die!" She screamed, never too good with insults.

"Sectumpsempra" His voice drifted through her ears, lazily, just before unbearable pain flashed through her senses.

The flesh surrounding her feet sliced upon as the curse slowly sawed its way through her flesh and ankle bone.

Her fingers curled deep into a fist as her long nails scraped her own skin. She couldn't help it, she screamed.

She felt each layer of cell disintegrate into nothing, sending a million jolts of pain to her brain. Blood oozed out before drying and sticking to her skin- whom had become so red that it looked like it had been stained.

She began to pant instead as the pain began to become familiar to her own nerves.

"What do you want from me?" She asked, cautiously.

She waited, patiently and fearfully as the man kept his back to her.

Then he turned around all of a sudden and crouched low, grabbing her chin.

His hood encircled his face as his identity was come to be known.

But before she could voice her shock, she heard his slow whisper.

"You,"

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

She sat there, staring at the most beautiful grey eyes she had ever seen. It sickened her to know that such beauty had been wasted on a monster.

His blonde locks peered through his black hood and blended well with the contrasting pale skin. Sharp nose, firm jaw, high cheek bones, and a perfect forehead.

She observed it all, as his answer rang at constant speed through her ears.

No…

Without processing all the facts or even thinking about the Consequences, she gathered saliva in her mouth and spat on him.

Thoof.

The tiny sound of the thick fluid landing near the man's feet was made aware of.

"You Murderer!" She hissed, leaning forward with a clear bright image of Dumbledore.

"Fiendfyre." His voice, so silky and so smooth, so cruel, responded back with grace.

Her body began to sweat and she felt strong heat on the tip of her shoulder.

Then once again, raw unadulterated pain registered in her mind. This time it began on her shoulder, and electrified its path to her ribs. Tiny knives stabbed each cell and shocked it before letting them go. The cycle repeated itself as she felt her whole body go numb, her blood boiling inside her veins.

"Hhhhhaaaahhhhh" She panted as she silently begged for relief.

"You say it," He was behind her, murmuring in her ear, "-Like it's a bad thing"

The hex now void from her body, she shivered in worry, her body still burning. There was still agony coursing through her thick vessels due to the aftermath of the hex.

Still hunched and hiding her arm, she slowly moved her left hand up and down, realizing the fire had caused the binding around her arm to loosen – only a little. Internally, she screamed as she realized that the bounds still had not been destroyed.

"Stop. Leave me alone, Malfoy" Her head faced the ground and her breath fogged the cool shadowed floor.

"Now, why would I do that?" He asked, leaning against wall with one knee bent. His long wand poked out of his pocket, showing evidence that his recent spells had been done wand less.

"You've had your fun," She said as she finally managed to sit up. "Leave me be"

She stared up at his face, through the shine of bright moonlight. His face was void of emotion and he merely stared back at her, not replying.

"Diffindo,"

She felt several locations on her body apply pressure. The pressure increased slowly, gradually growing stronger and sharper.

The pressure continued to grow stronger, now shaped into razors, digging deep into her skin.

Suddenly she was pushed into the ground again as her body received several wounds with glass remains stuck in her flesh. Blood pumped out and created a small puddle around her form.

She groaned out of weakness. Hiding her hand from his sight, she tried to move it again, to see if the rope around her arm had loosened or not. To her relief, the recent curse had cut the last tie of the rope around her arm. She could move her arm. –But the fact was that she was too weak.

"Don't even try," Draco snarled above her, just before he kicked Hermione in her ribs.

"Oof" Her beaten ribs wheezed out another puff of air and she cried out in pain.

No, No, No

He had realized her plan!

She couldn't waste any more time.

Please God, give me strength.

Dear Merlin…

"Aggghhhhhhhhh!" She screamed and with all her strength, she raised her hand up high.

His face was scowling and he was searching her, to see her hidden movements. He had his want out, waiting for her next move.

With adrenaline pushing her, she screamed again and latched onto her left earring. With the weight of her beaten arm, she yanked it out.

The earring began to vibrate.

And then there was wind.

More wind,

It pushed her to the ground and she tried not to smile in triumph.

She grasped tighter on to her earring, her special portkey.

Three more seconds,

Draco Malfoy, realizing that his captive was escaping, he quickly began chanting.

Three,

"describant eam cu conspectu meo"

Two,

"describant eam cu conspectu meo"

One.

"describant eam cu conspectu meo!"

A circle of wind twisted its way around her and began squeezing her. At the same time, a golden light flashed bright.

Hermione tried to shield her eyes as the golden light became hot and brought a stinging sensation.

The wind became stronger and her navel started to squeeze inwards.

She gasped in pain and choked out air.

The golden flash transformed in to a beam

The wind pushed down and she was flat against the ground.

The beam came closer

The wind pushed down

The beam came closer and closer

The wind beat on her back, pushing down.

And then it happened.

Boom.

The golden beam struck her in the chest.

She screamed.

Her body began to teleport.

She screamed.

The golden beam exploded inside her body.

She began to disappear, and the wind became stronger.

She was being pulled, every inch of her skin pinching and prodding and then squeezing.

The pain was increasing.

She was disappearing.

Just before she left, she looked up.

She saw him smirking, him smirking and standing proudly.

Her eye brows furrowed, confused.

-Why?

And then she was gone.


End file.
